Of Mechs and Moogles
by SurferSquid
Summary: Sequel to "Of Grimoires and Gria". Three members of Clan Excelsior get sent on a dispatch mission to Goug, where they stumble upon a brewing threat to all of Ivalice-and the narrator must contend with her decision to stay in this world rather than return to Earth. Oh, and pirates happen.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, I had so much fun with these guys in _Of Grimoires and Gria_ that I couldn't help sending them on another adventure. Enjoy!_

Oh, hey. Me again. Yep, still the same Terra Fullmer from last time. Well, a few years older. More experienced as a White Mage, and I've started to add more Bishop skills to my repertoire as well. Now I can Aero or Water you in the face, if I get bored of Holy.

Because I'm still in Ivalice. Do I regret destroying my Grimoire—and all my chances of ever returning to the drudgery of my Earth life? Not a chance. It would take the combined forces of the thirteen Scions to tear me away from my clan. And my husband, bless his oddball seeq heart, would hack the world-threads to bits in order to get me back again.

So yeah. I reject what little you had to offer me, Earth, and substitute my own happiness. We're all a lot better off that way.

And thus I found myself in a pub in Camoa in the middle of Emberleaf. The weather was perfect for the end of autumn, the kind of cold where it's not uncomfortable enough to be outside if you bundle up, but makes being inside feel cozy and sleepy. Like the warmth is telling you that you did a great job that year and now it's time to rest.

Of course, it could also be because we'd just finished defending a farmer's harvest from rampant cockatrices. We were all ready for a good rest after that one.

But Saskia would have none of that. She's a great clan leader, but boy is she driven. Coele always complains that the only vacations we ever get are the hours we log traveling to our next job. Saskia says we'll rest when there are no more job postings we can take. That has yet to happen.

Qrrog, Vasily, and I sat at a table nursing mugs of hot, spicy apple cider, watching Saskia and Coele browse a large bulletin board that spanned one wall of the pub. Members of other clans mulled about, and the air was thick with murmured conversations and the heavy aroma of belly-filling food.

"Hmm." Saskia's long viera fingers lifted a sheet of paper. "Now this looks promising. What do you think, Coele?"

The pink-haired gria leaned over to study the posting, her draconic wings flaring to keep her balance. "Ooh! That one does look fun! Except… hmmm…" She rubbed her chin for the moment and then the two of them simultaneously turned to look at the rest of us.

Vasily looked back at them from over the rim of his mug. "Mm?" His bangaa eyebrow ridge rose curiously.

"Well, this won't do," Saskia murmured. Her dark eyes turned back to the bulletin board—and then her ears pricked. A triumphant smile slid up her face and she snatched up both the paper that she and Coele had been looking at, and another sheet nearby, tearing them off of their tacks.

Qrrog and I studied her as she and our gria Ravager sat back down at the table. "Two jobs?" I asked, full of cider but letting the mug warm my hands. "We only ever take one at a time." We were a clan of only five, after all.

Saskia slid the two papers over to us so we could read the postings. "There's a combat tournament in Fluorgis. The rewards look quite nice."

"Combat?" Qrrog poked his seeq snout out of his mug, his tusked grin offset by a cinnamon mustache from the cider. "Now _that_ sounds excitin'."

"Yeah, but…" Coele poked her fingers together. "It's a doubles tournament. Only two people per clan are allowed to enter."

"Ooh!" Qrrog grabbed my shoulder and pulled me close. "Me and Brighteyes'll do great! I got the muscle, she's got the sparkly healin' stuff! Now that's synergy, am I right?" He grinned down at me.

I nodded, but Saskia folded her hands over her mouth. I'd long since learned that meant she had different plans and was trying to be diplomatic about them. "Actually, I was anticipating Coele and I entering. With my long-range Sniper skillset and her melee techniques, we also make a very effective pair."

Qrrog's shoulders slumped. "Oh. What about the three o' us, then? We gonna be in the stands eatin' hot buns? Okay, that does sound pretty good," he muttered to himself.

I patted his arm. "We can enter another tournament sometime. They do hold them pretty regularly."

"True, true."

"Actually…" Saskia pushed the second paper forward and looked up at the three of us.

Vasily scanned it, picked it up, and scanned it again, wrinkling his orange snout. "… A disspatch missssion? Yer _dissspatchin_' uss?"

Qrrog held his stomach sorrowfully. "I miss them buns already…"

I leaned in front of him to try to see the paper again. "Wait, where are we going?"

The bangaa smirked. "Goug." He passed the paper to my ex-pirate husband, who held it so both of us could see. "That ssoftens the blow a bit, it does. Nobody're better engineers'n the Moogles, and the _Juggernaut_ could use ssome tunin' up."

Saskia smiled. "I thought you might like that. The tournament will last a week, and I didn't want any of you getting bored in Fluorgis."

"Aye, that town's a little too fancy-pants fer me tastes," Qrrog said with a chuckle. "All them _flowers_ everywhere. And flouncy li'l gria like Pinky 'ere." He jabbed a thumb at Coele, who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, Goug's fun," I said. "And this job doesn't look like anything the three of us can't handle. Someone's been stealing supplies from Mogworks's main plant, and they want us to find out who it is."

"Mogworkss… they're the ones doin' all that R&amp;D on Moogletrons, ain't they?" Vasily said wistfully. "Gonna be bloomin' fun workin' fer them. I wonder if they'll give uss a tour of their plant…"

"And the sooner we finish," I said, "the sooner we can spend the rest of the week relaxing while we wait for Saskia's and Coele's tournament to end!" I winked at Saskia and she chuckled.

"Fine," she said, throwing up her hands with a grin. "Do with that time what you will."

"Whoohoo!" Qrrog threw a fist in the air. "Finally, a _proper_ vacation!"

Coele folded her arms. "Just you wait, we're gonna bring home the first-place trophy!"

"And we're gonna bring home…" Qrrog looked at the paper again. "Three thousand gil! Not bad!"

"Not bad at all," Saskia said with a smile. "Well, shall we depart? I believe the registration deadline is in three days' time."

Coele grinned. "And the sooner we get there, the sooner you guys can go do _your_ job and then have a vacation!"

I laughed as we excused ourselves from the table and headed for the door. "I'm sorry you aren't getting a vacation, Coele."

"Are you kidding me?" She pulled on her pink-striped winter hat, complete with pom-pom tassels and holes for her horns. "This tourney'll be the best vacation ever! I get to spend a whole week bashing people with my sword!" She gestured menacingly, a terrifyingly maniacal grin spreading up her face.

Re-wrapping my scarf around my neck, I gave her a smirk. "I should have guessed."

The sky was the color of ash, and lantern-light made the wet streets glitter. People were hurrying home to hunker down for another cold night, but we headed for the docks where private airships – like our _Juggernaut_ – were moored.

Something wet landed on my nose and I stopped in my tracks. "Ooh!" I looked up, expecting rain, but instead I saw flakes of white drifting down from the sky.

Coele gasped, her arms spread wide. "The first snow of the season!"

I grinned, watching the feathery wisps of ice float gently onto rooftops and our heads and shoulders. "Neat."

"It's jusst sssnow," Vasily grumbled, clutching the sleeves of his leather flight jacket. "Nassssty wet sssstuff. I don't undersstand why yer ssso excitable about it."

"We didn't have snow where I came from on Earth." I cupped my hands and let the snowflakes perch on them, ignoring the cold as I watched the flakes melt into tiny puddles. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of it—it's like _magick_." I closed my eyes, enjoying the crisp hush that blanketed the city.

Something warm and moist pressed against my forehead. I opened my eyes and looked up to see a seeq snout, and past it a wide grin.

"Yer too cute, love," Qrrog said, patting my head.

I laughed, my cheeks heating in spite of the cold. "Sorry, I'm way too sentimental."

"Nah." He put an arm around my shoulders and we continued walking. "I love you just the way you are."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, we set off. We dropped Saskia and Coele off in Fluorgis at the end of the day, and then it was off to Goug the day after. By sunset, the island city lay sprawled before us. Innumerable smokestacks belched billowing steam that mingled with the cloud layer drifting in from the sea, lit a fluorescent orange by the sinking sun.

"Man, this place is so cool," I gasped from my seat on the bridge.

Qrrog laughed. "Yeah, and fulla li'l Moogles! Make me feel like a behemoth, they do!"

"Aye, and they're the besst blassted mechanissts in Ivalice," Vasily said with a smirk, easing the _Juggernaut_ down. "Feels like ages ssince I brought the old gal in for a checkup."

I grinned. "Nono's going to be happy to see us again."

"Mm-hm." Vasily nodded. "Let'ss hope he's not out on a merchant run, or roamin' around with those ssky piratess… I want me ship back in a week, and he treatss 'er right."

"Sky pirates, eh…" Qrrog rubbed his snout as the towering buildings of Goug enveloped the _Juggernaut_ around us. "I'm an old-fashioned seeq, I am. Prefer the feel of a ship in the water under me feet."

I gave him a jokingly exasperated look. "I thought your days of piracy were over."

"Oh, they are!" He placed a hand to his chest. "I'm a _reformed_ sorta pirate!"

I shook my head with a smile. "You're never going to stop saying that, are you."

"No, because you think it's cute."

My smile turned sheepish. "Well, that's true…"

Vasily cleared his throat and drummed his claws on the dashboard. "Ssso, let'ss report to Mogworksss firsst thing in the mornin', eh?" That was his polite way of telling us to cut it out before we made him start to gag.

"Sounds good to me," I said. "Might as well get situated here and get a good night's rest before doing a stakeout."

And that was what we did. Nono was in town, and the young Moogle mechanic promised to take good care of the _Juggernaut_ while we were on clan business. While he and Vasily talked shop, Qrrog and I went over our gear and supplies, making sure we had everything necessary for a potential combat situation. I felt confident in my healing spells, but I packed a few potions and remedies just in case I got worn out from casting. And my husband made sure his axe was nice and sharp.

Once we had gotten everything squared away, the three of us went out for dinner at our favorite place in town. Our restaurant of choice was on an upper floor of a high-rise, where we could look out over the city and to the sea beyond. And the food was just as great as the view.

Early the next morning, we reported to Mogworks. Materials and parts meant for their plant were being stolen from their warehouse nearly every night. None of the employees had fessed up, so it seemed like an outside job. The president of the company had her suspicions that it was Mogworks's main rival company, but catching the thieves in the act would settle the case, or at least give us a strong lead.

Which meant the three of us were going to play private eye that night. I kept talking like a film noir detective as we were given a tour of the plant and shown where the break-ins had taken place. I had to explain to my clanmates what film noir was and why I found all of this so amusing, and then Qrrog and I spent the rest of the day speaking like detectives and stifling chuckles while Vasily rolled his eyes.

By dinner, Qrrog's new life goal was to find a trenchcoat in his size. I assured him that if we couldn't find one, I would help him sew one. Contrary to expectations, he is actually a better tailor than I, due to years of experience mending sails. But I at least know how to pin fabric together, so he says I'm the best assistant he could ask for.

Anyway. The stakeout.

Like proper PI's, we got situated outside the plant's warehouse, in a shadowy corner behind some crates. The steam rising from sewer grates and spurting out of leaky pipes just made things all the more stereotypical. I wished we'd all had fedoras and raspy voices. Well, Vasily has a raspy voice, at least. Typical for a bangaa.

Of course, the thing about stakeouts is that they require a lot of waiting. And being quiet. And are usually at insane hours.

So despite my best efforts, I fell asleep leaning against my husband. Which is very difficult to resist, anyway. He makes a really good pillow.

The next thing I knew, he was gently shaking my shoulder. "We got some action, Brighteyes."

A skiff had pulled up to the dock, and a handful of nimble figures leaped out of it. They stalked cautiously forward, looking around.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as we pulled further back into the shadows and watched.

A dark-skinned hume in the garb of a Thief job started for the warehouse door. She pulled a lock-picking kit out of her pocket and got to work while the others stood guard.

The click of a firearm being loaded made everyone freeze. The Thief looked up and found herself staring down the barrel of a hand-cannon.

"'Ello there," Vasily said with a toothy smirk. "Might want to sstay where you are."

The others drew their weapons, and that was Qrrog's and my cue. We slipped out from behind the crates, and I whispered a cautionary Protect spell while my husband hefted his axe in his palm menacingly.

"Well, well," he drawled. "What 'ave we here? You the bilge rats what're causin' all the fuss fer Mogworks?"

"What's goin' on over there?" a male voice shouted from the skiff. A bulkier figure leaped down the gangplank, and we found ourselves facing a revgaji holding a lance. His tan skin and pointy ears were offset by his thick mane of black hair and the curly beard that tumbled down his chest. The tails of his long coat whipped dramatically behind him.

A viera gritted her teeth. "We got trouble, sir. Help us take 'em out."

The revgaji stroked his beard with a broad hand. "Heh, no problem…" His eyes rested on our resident seeq Viking, and he did a double-take. "Qrrog? _Qrrog Squallhammer?!_"

Qrrog grinned. "In the flesh! Jihl, me matey, it's been too long!"

Jihl motioned for the others to stand back as he stalked toward Qrrog wearing a smile of disbelief. The two lowered their weapons and slapped each other on the back. "Cap'n! It's been years!" the revgaji Dragoon cried. "Thought you'd gone to Davy Jones' Locker, you ol' sea dog!"

"You know I'm too stubborn fer that!" Qrrog hung an arm around Jihl's shoulders.

Vasily and I exchanged glances. It came as no surprise that Qrrog had connections we still didn't know about. He had been a pirate captain when Saskia, Coele and I apprehended his crew. But when I overpowered him and then healed him, he had pledged his loyalty to us and sworn off piracy.

Of course, that didn't erase his past. "Brighteyes, Scales!" He gestured us closer, although Vasily kept his hand-cannon on his shoulder. "This 'ere's Jihl, me old quartermaster on the _Stormchaser_! We go way back, we do!" He turned to the revgaji. "These're some of me clanmates, Vasily and me wife Terra."

Jihl eyed us for a moment and then doubled over in laughter, jabbing at Qrrog's ribs. "You sly dog! Went and got yourself married, did you?! No wonder no one's seen you around!"

I shifted awkwardly. "It's, uh… nice to meet you, too…" This was not exactly how I was anticipating things to go down, and polite introductions seemed a little out of place in this situation. I looked to Vasily for guidance, but all he had to offer was an exasperated grunt.

Qrrog put a hand on my shoulder. "Aye, and I wouldn't trade her fer all the buried treasure in Ivalice!"

Naturally, I blushed. "That was so corny it was almost cute."

"I know," he said proudly. "That was the idea."

Jihl pulled back and put a hand on his hip. "So you're with a clan now, mate?" His smile faded. "Lemme guess, you took a job offer from Mogworks to catch the folks filchin' their stuff."

Qrrog's grip on my shoulder tightened. "Aye, that we did!" His confident grin remained.

The revgaji shook his head. "Sorry, mate. I take orders from a different cap'n nowadays." The thieves began closing in on us. "I don't wanna do this, but—"

"Hold up a sec," Qrrog said, a fierce glint in his eyes. "We took the job offer, aye. But that don't mean I ain't interested in… better offers, if you catch me drift. Who're you workin' for now?"

Jihl blinked. "Bloodblade. Ozra Bloodblade, the Pirate King."

Qrrog let out a low whistle. "Pirate King, eh? Ain't been one of those in ages! How's he pay?"

"What's it matter to you?" the hume Thief said with a scowl.

Jihl gave her a silencing glare and then looked back at the Viking. "Better'n anyone else on the seas, mate. We got our own stronghold on Worgen Island… we could really use you there."

Qrrog's grin widened. "I've been waitin' fer the opportunity to get back to me roots. Count me in, matey!"

Now, there's something you have to understand about Qrrog. He's a master of the triple-cross. It's sort of a twisted specialty of his, and it's come in handy on numerous occasions. Everyone expects seeq to be unscrupulous and greedy. No one expects them to be intelligent enough to manipulate people. It's a winning combination and Qrrog has honed it into a fine art.

And the rest of us were trained to act along. Vasily put his claws to his forehead. "You can't be bloomin' ssserious! Terra, get outta here!"

Before I could move, Qrrog wrenched my staff from my grip and threw me over his shoulder. "I don't think so," he said with a dark chuckle. "You two are comin' with us."

That's another thing. I get to play hostage a lot. Because no one expects a hume White Mage to have cross-classed in a bangaa job that involves offensive magic, I can pull off the helpless bit believably. Also, I have long since learned that this is my husband's bizarre way of being romantic with me. Which explains why he attempted to take me hostage on the day we met.

It must be a seeq thing.

I had to keep from smiling as the pirates confiscated Vasily's hand-cannon and bound his hands. He snapped at them with his crocodilian mouth a few times out of spite, but otherwise stayed quiet. He looked over at me with an expression that screamed "I hate when he does this".

I mouthed back "just play along", but he apparently couldn't read hume lips, because he just snorted in disgust and watched the Thief open the door to the warehouse. We would compensate for this later by giving Vasily a larger portion of the reward money to spend on goodies for his ship.

I would get my compensation in the form of cuddles, which I was more than okay with.

Qrrog and we "prisoners" stayed on the skiff with Jihl, who directed loading, and the two pirates talked and laughed about old times. Many of the stories I'd already heard from Qrrog himself, but some were new, like the time when he was just starting out and he'd gotten himself stuck in the crow's nest. He ended up hacking himself out with his axe. They never asked him to do lookout duty again.

As the boat piled higher with goods, I found myself still over my husband's shoulder and wondering how long this was going to take. Most of the time, Qrrog double-crossed just long enough to get our marks caught. But he wasn't stalling like I assumed he would do in this situation, and in his conversation with Jihl he seemed earnestly curious about this new pirate king. Qrrog also wasn't asking any questions that were directly relevant to our job, such as what the pirates wanted with so much material and equipment from a technology company.

Naturally, I began to be concerned. We had to pick Saskia and Coele up from Fluorgis in a week. I yawned, trying to assure myself that Qrrog knew what he was doing. Unless he really did want to go back to piracy.

I frowned out at the pitch-black sea. I had no evidence to back that up. He loved working with our clan. He wouldn't betray us. But maybe seeing his old friend was too strong of a pull for him. And I wasn't really in a position to voice my concerns right now.

I looked over at Vasily, who had been deposited on the floor of the skiff. He was fast asleep and snoring loudly.

Another yawn. I wished I could sleep. My thoughts were running around too frantically. I rested my cheek on Qrrog's back and he gave me a reassuring squeeze.


	3. Chapter 3

The viera scrambled up the gangplank with a crate of goods. "Guard's comin', sir!"

Jihl nodded. "Let's move out." He gave a hand gesture and the other pirates convened to the dock. The Thief locked the door behind them, and they piled back onto the boat, where they picked up the oars and began to row.

The boat started forward with a lurch and I stiffened, gripping Qrrog's back. "Oh, man…" I groaned. "Can I please not be facing backwards for this?" There's a very good reason why I prefer air travel to maritime travel. I like to call that reason "seasickness".

"Oh—o' course, love." My husband eased me off of his shoulder and sat me down beside him. "You gonna be okay?" He pushed a few stray strands of hair out of my face.

"Mm-hm,"I said weakly, clinging to the edge of the bench and gritting my teeth at every swell we hit. "You said… we're going to an island, right?" I asked Jihl.

He nodded, resting his ankle on his knee and watching us thoughtfully. "Poor lass doesn't have her sea legs?"

"I don't have a sea _stomach_," I moaned. Night fog hung low over the water, blanketing us and making it impossible for me to orient myself. Which didn't help. At all. Thankfully, my stomach was pretty good about keeping food down, but it was still going to be a miserable trip.

Qrrog curled his arm around me and pulled me close. "Hang in there, love. Deep breaths, there you go. Keep yer head straight, it helps with equilibrium. Think happy thoughts." He poked my shoulder. "Remember the time Coele took on a Rocktitan by herself? She just kept hittin' it 'til it stopped movin'! And then she _still_ kept hittin' it! We couldn't drag her away!"

I smiled. "It was because she wanted that one piece of armor that required its shell to craft. And she got it." It did help to keep my mind off of how we were moving through the water. And the autumn cold, that wasn't fun either. I found myself longing for our climate-controlled airship.

Jihl chuckled. "Don't you two make a fine pair."

"Aye, that we do!" Qrrog said. He put his snout to the top of my head and squeezed me closer. "I'll take care of you, Brighteyes, I promise."

I nodded, still straining my eyes to try to see stars past the fog. "Thanks," I whispered. "I'm going to try to get some sleep."

We rowed in silence for what felt like hours. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was hours, because the mists around us had begun to lighten when the skiff suddenly changed direction. I sat up and rubbed my face, my hair and clothes wet with dew. My glasses hadn't fared much better and I searched for a dry area of my tunic with which to clean them.

Jihl perked up. "Ah, here we are. Worgen Island."

Out of the gray fog suddenly loomed jagged spears of stone, sticking haphazardly out of the ocean as though some giant had tossed them there. As we navigated around them, on a course these pirates apparently knew by heart, a massive wall of black rock rose to greet us. Choppy sea water splashed futilely against sheer cliffs that curved to either side of us, a natural fortress.

Directly ahead was a tall cavern that led into the wall and out the other side. The mouth was formed of sharp chunks of stone that jutted out from the cliff in an overhang, indeed resembling the lupine maw of a worgen.

"I see what you did there," I muttered.

"I've heard o' this place," Qrrog said, craning his neck as we entered the yawning tunnel. "They say the pirate kings of old used it as their stronghold, but most folks think it's just a myth." He grinned. "Guess they're wrong."

"Those old stories have gotta be true," Jihl said, his hands on his knees, "because this place is—" He looked over his shoulder at our destination. "Well, see for yourself."

The skiff emerged into a wide lagoon hemmed in by the towering outside walls. Before us, built into the far end of the rocks, loomed an immense citadel of stone. Flickering firelight sent shadows dancing across sturdy battlements and dark windows that yawned like ghosts frozen in mid-wail. A black flag sporting the Jolly Roger waved proudly from the pinnacle of the sprawling keep.

"Blimey!" Vasily gasped from behind us, making me jump at the sudden noise. Evidently he had woken up. His snout poked over my shoulder. "It's a bloomin' _casstle!_" He looked over at Jihl. "How in the world d'you keep _thisss_ a ssecret?!"

The revgaji shrugged. "There's an eternal fog around these parts. Might be a weird combination of weather patterns and water currents."

His comrades steered us toward the docks that stretched out at the foot of the citadel. Moored there were several full-size ships whose masts would have just barely cleared the tunnel, as well as a host of smaller ones of various makes.

Qrrog smirked. "Sounds like old pirate magick to me, matey."

"Pirate magick?" I asked. "Like your Thunder spells?"

"An extension of that, yeah," he replied. "That's the easy stuff, I guess you could say." He adjusted my staff on his belt and his gaze grew distant. "They say the pirate kings of old learned the magick of the deeps, and could command the very winds and tides."

Vasily snickered as he eased himself onto the bench beside me, his hands still bound. "Shoulda guessssed piratess had their own fairy tales." He grimaced. "Man alive, me tail's cramped ssomethin' awful…"

"Hey, you sail the seas enough, you learn all the stories," Qrrog said. "And if Worgen Island is real, who knows what else might be."

Jihl leaned back as the skiff bumped against the dock and the pirates secured it. "Aye, even the wildest fairy tales started with a grain of truth."

"Let's move already," the Thief said, pushing herself to her feet. "Good luck explainin' this to Bloodblade." She glared disdainfully down at the three of us, and Vasily rolled his eyes again while Qrrog grinned at her.

"Oh, sweet solid land," I moaned, trying to get my legs to cooperate. I just needed to not be in motion and go lie down somewhere. And sleep. Lots of sleep. Unfortunately, my legs were not happy about being stuck in a boat for half the night, and had forgotten how to do their job. I wobbled and sat back down. "C'mon," I hissed to myself, feeling pretty embarrassed.

"At leasst yer tail's not cramped," Vasily muttered as he stood up and stretched himself as much as he could with his hands tied behind his back. The viera moved to grab him. "Okay, okay, I'm goin'," he groused, stumbling as she dragged him onto the dock.

Jihl pushed on his knees to get himself to his feet, and leaped onto the weathered wood. "Get the goods unloaded," he barked to the other pirates. "I'll take them to Bloodblade."

As they complied, Qrrog scooped me up into his arms. "Take a load off, sweetheart," he said, stepping onto the dock. "I'm sorry. I didn't know we'd be on the water that long."

"It's okay," I replied, infinitely relieved to not be bobbing up and down any more. My stomach slowly started to unclench. "I was kind of hoping I wouldn't get seasick that badly."

He bumped my head with his snout. "Just rest now. Yer safe."

"Ssafe?" Vasily hissed. "_Ssssafe?!_" He stomped his feet, looking like he would be gesticulating wildly if he had the use of his arms. "We've been captured by bloomin' piratess, taken to a bloomin' _pirate-magicked island_, into the lair of the _bloomin' Pirate King_, and you call thiss _ssssssssafe?!_" His nostrils flared.

Qrrog grinned. "Well, yer with _me_, so yer safe."

Jihl laughed and patted Vasily's shoulder, guiding him down the dock with Qrrog following. "Aye, I don't fear for anyone under the protection of Qrrog Squallhammer. He's as kind as he is fierce, but you didn't hear it from me." The revgaji looked over his shoulder at his former captain and winked. "Although how he fares under the rule of the Bloodblade, we have yet to see."

My husband frowned. "Don't scare 'em. I'm a seeq o' me word. I'll keep 'em safe, Bloodblade or no."

"I know you will," I said. Even if I didn't quite understand what he was doing, I did trust him to protect us. He would not turn on us so fully.

Jihl led us up into the citadel, through a yawning gateway and down cold corridors. Occasionally we passed other brigands who gave us a second glance before hurrying past, or guards who watched us suspiciously. Qrrog met them all with a disarming smile.

My stomach was not happy. Even though I was off the water, we were still moving, and the fact that I was cold, damp, and hadn't gotten adequate sleep didn't help. But at least our new surroundings were distracting me enough from the nausea.

We climbed a wide staircase and entered a long hall with a vaulted ceiling and windows that overlooked the outside sea. The room must have been positioned in the rear of the fortress, I realized. Crimson banners hung from the walls, and a pair of guards was stationed at either side of a tall-backed throne.

Reclining in the throne was a middle-aged hume man with short, graying-blond hair and sharp eyes the color of a stormy sea, wearing a frayed red coat. Two old scars gashed across his face at different angles, making him not a pretty sight to behold.

He regarded us with an air of amusement as he fingered the hilt of the saber at his side. "Heard you'd brought back company, Jihl," he said, with a tone as smooth and self-assured as though he was a CEO at a business meeting. Which he kind of was. "Care to do the introductions?"

Jihl bowed deeply. "Lord Bloodblade, this is Captain Qrrog Squallhammer and his clanmates, uh…"

"Terra and Vasily," Qrrog finished with a smirk. "Terra's me wife—so if I catch anybody here even lookin' at her funny, I'll keelhaul 'em!" he snarled.

The Bloodblade tilted his head. "Well met, Captain Squallhammer." He stood up, letting his coat drape to his feet. Man, what was it with pirates and dramatically long coats. "And I am Ozra Bloodblade, the Pirate King. Welcome to my domain." He bowed with a flourish.

"I've come to join yer crew," Qrrog said. "And I'm conscriptin' me mateys, too."

Ozra raised an eyebrow as he eased himself back onto his throne. "Really. What makes you think I'll take you? I think we could squeeze a nice ransom out of them, personally. And you've got guts walkin' in here like you own the place."

"That's why you need me," my husband said. "Ask ol' Jihl 'ere, I know how to command a crew. Vasily's great with machines, he can help out with repairs."

The Pirate King sat up. "Machines, eh?" He narrowed his eyes at the bangaa, who glared back. "Aye, we could use someone of his ilk. But I hope he understands, we don't take kindly to troublemakers here." The hume grinned rather cruelly, and Qrrog's grip on me tightened.

I was confused. Wasn't this the part where Qrrog would launch a surprise attack, or reveal some way to blackmail this guy? Why was he still going along with this? He glanced over at Vasily with a bit of a warning look.

The bangaa looked at him in equal parts confusion and betrayal, likely thinking the same thing I was, and then hung his head. "Aye, I'll behave," he muttered.

Ozra sat back in his throne, looking rather smug. "There's a good man. Jihl, take him to the billets," he said as the revgaji cut Vasily's bonds. "I'll have work for him soon enough."

"Yar, Jihl!" Qrrog called over his shoulder. "You got any ginger in the larder here?"

"Aye, Cap'n," Jihl said as he began to lead Vasily away.

"Brew up a tea, would ye?"

Jihl glanced over at me and smiled. "Aye aye!"

Ozra scowled. "You're hardly in a position to be callin' the shots, Squallhammer."

"I am when it comes to me own family," Qrrog replied with a disarming grin. "Surely there ain't nothin' wrong with a man takin' care of his wife."

The Pirate King stared at him for a tense moment—and then shook his head. "You're a strange one, Captain. Never met a seeq quite like you. I think it'll be great fun to have you on my side, lad." His smile remained, a smile I was quickly disliking more and more. "But don't think you're above my rule. There's a reason why I became the Pirate King, and it was not by being lenient to upstarts."

"O' course not, sir," Qrrog said, shaking his head. "Don't worry, I won't disappoint ye. I just wanna get back to me ol' glory days and make a li'l more gil, is all. Thanks fer this opportunity."

"Of course." Ozra stifled a yawn. "Now off with you. Get some sleep if you need it, and then there's work to be done."

"Aye aye, sir!"

I leaned against my husband as he carried me back out into the hallway. Being around Ozra did not make my stomach feel any better. Actually, he made me prefer being out in the open ocean. "Thanks for sticking up for me back there. That guy gives me the creeps."

"Aye, he's a bad egg," Qrrog said in a low voice. "I've known pirates like him. Treat life like it's a game and other people are their pawns…" He shuddered. "I'll protect you and Vasily from him, don't you worry none."

I nodded. "Thanks," I replied halfheartedly. Now I felt even less sure about everything. I didn't want to stay here under the rule of a sociopath pirate king. I had to find some way to breach the topic to Qrrog, because this was the longest he had ever double-crossed and I was earnestly beginning to worry he wouldn't cross back.


	4. Chapter 4

Thankfully, I didn't have to stay in the billets. Qrrog used his clout as a captain to get the two of us some nicer, private quarters, and by the time we got up there, the rooms had been cleaned and wood stacked in the fireplaces. It really did look like a proper castle, if a very utilitarian one, like castles on Earth used to be back when they were still used as fortresses.

Qrrog set me down on the bed and I let myself sink into the mattress and pillows with a sigh of relief. I could feel my stomach finally begin to settle, satisfied at finally not being in motion. "Thanks, Qrrog," I breathed as I took off my glasses. "Has anybody ever told you you're the best husband ever?"

He gave me a bittersweet smile and his shoulders slumped. "Thanks, Brighteyes, but I don't rightly feel it. I'm really sorry I got you seasick."

I patted his arm. "I forgive you. You didn't know we would be on a boat for that long." Or did he? Paranoid thoughts started ringing my mental doorbell. Had he been in cahoots with Jihl since we got to Goug?

"Well, I promise I'll make it up to you now." Qrrog pushed my hair away from my face. "Just rest, you'll be feelin' right as rain in the mornin'." He spread my hair out on the pillow and began to comb through it with his claws. "Yer hair's so pretty, love," he said with a smile.

I blushed. "Thanks—"

"Tea's ready." Jihl stood leaning against the doorway with a smirk and a steaming mug in one hand.

Qrrog looked over his shoulder at his former quartermaster and chuckled sheepishly. "Thanks, matey. Knew I could count on you." He took the mug and sniffed at it before turning back to me and blowing into the liquid a few times. Carefully, he eased my head up so I could drink the ginger tea and put the mug to my lips. "This'll help, love."

I sipped at the hot liquid, feeling the ginger burn my mouth and throat as it went down. My stomach gurgled in appeasement. "Thanks. That helps a lot."

Jihl folded his arms and snickered. "You always were a softie, mate."

"Well, you attract more flies with honey than chum… or somethin' like that." Qrrog looked back at me. "Need any more?"

"I'm good for now, thanks," I said.

He patted my head and lumbered over to the fireplace, where he knelt down and dug out his tinderbox from one of his belt pouches. "Jihl, you the only one here from the _Stormchaser_?"

"No." Jihl shook his head. "After this li'l lady and her clan caught you, we disbanded. We all kinda wandered for a while, but then this Ozra guy starts recruitin' early this year and I say, what the hey, pay looks great. Turns out a fair number of our crew had the same idea."

With a snap and a hiss, the warm glow of firelight began to complement the whitish light of the magick lamp on the bedside table. _This is it_, I thought. _This is the part where he reveals his plan. Jihl's his accomplice and they're going to use their old crewmates to mutiny against_—

Qrrog chuckled as he packed away his flint and tinder and stood up, dusting off his hands. "Good! I've been missin' me crew! It'll be just like old times, eh? Sailin' the seas, plunderin' booty…"

Jihl smiled stiffly. "Well, not quite, mate. Ozra's… shifted focus. We still plunder vessels, but just to replenish our supplies. No, he's got his eye on a higher prize."

"Oh?" Qrrog raised his eyebrows.

As did I. It was becoming more and more difficult to tell when he was trolling for information he could use against our targets, and when he earnestly wanted to know something for his own advantage. I was having a hard time reading his motives. That's what makes him so good at what he does, but right now it wasn't comforting.

The revgaji glanced over at me with his keen blue eyes. "Aye. No one really knows what it is, though—or at least, those who do aren't talkin'."

I narrowed my eyes in reply. "Why do you keep looking at me." Did he know something I didn't?

Qrrog sidled over to the bed and hovered over me protectively, scowling at his former quartermaster. "I was serious about the keelhaulin' thing, matey."

Jihl planted his hand against the wall and laughed. "Sorry, mates, I didn't mean to unnerve you. I'm impressed, is all. I didn't think me cap'n would ever find a girl who could handle him. I was curious about how you two would work together." He grinned at my husband. "I like what I see—I can't imagine anyone better for you. Aye, I think she's plenty strong enough for you. I'm happy for you, mate. You two are gonna go far together."

"Thanks, matey." Qrrog took my hand and gave it a squeeze, which I returned.

Even with my doubts, I felt it a great compliment that an old friend of my husband's, who seemed to be as close to him as a brother, thought I was the best match for him. I was well aware that our relationship was unusual. As a seeq, the most looked-down-upon civilized race in Ivalice, most women would not even give Qrrog the time of day.

But his earnestness had endeared me to him from the day we met. And as our bonds of friendship strengthened through our adventures with our clan, I became more and more pleasantly surprised by his kindness, thoughtfulness, intelligence, and tenacity. I honestly couldn't think of a better match for myself, either.

Jihl looked back at me and smirked. "You and the bangaa put on a good act back there, by the way."

I stiffened. "What?"

"Although it would've been more convincin' if Qrrog hadn't doted on you the whole time, but he just can't help himself when it comes to that. Don't worry, no one else caught on."

Qrrog snickered. "I knew I couldn't pull the wool over yer eyes, matey. Thanks fer playin' along."

A triumphant smile spread across my face. _Yes! Jihl _is_ in cahoots with us! Now we're going to break out of here and—_

"No worries. Would've been a shame to see 'em come to harm just because you went turncoat on their clan. You did the right thing, mate."

My face fell. I tried to disguise my disappointment by taking another sip of tea, letting the mug hide my expression. What was going on here?

"Aye, I didn't want an altercation," Qrrog said. "But we had to make it look convincin'. Don't worry, they'll be good. But I can't let 'em go back and tip off Mogworks."

I sat up, staring at my husband in shock. "Y-you mean we're really prisoners?!"

He patted my hand and grinned. "Now, love, that's such a _nasty_ way of thinkin' about it. I prefer the term 'honored guests'."

"Aye, guests who had better behave themselves," Jihl grunted. He stretched out his arms in the doorway. "All right, you ol' sea dog, you've kept me awake long enough. I'm off to get some shuteye. See you at breakfast—" He glanced out the window at the lightening sky. "Or lunch, now."

The door to our quarters had barely closed before I pulled my glasses on and jumped out of bed. "I don't understand," I said to Qrrog, who was leaning against the bedpost with his arms folded. "Why are you doing this? Come on, it's just the two of us now—if you've got some brilliant plan up your sleeve, now's the perfect time to tell me about it."

He said nothing as I rounded the bed and moved to the window. My fingers dug into the cold stone as I watched the gray water lap at the rocks below us. The fog that blanketed the sky was now a rosy gold. Somewhere past the mists, the sun had risen.

Had my trust really gone too far? "I don't—" My chin trembled and I put a hand to my face. "Please tell me you're not really betraying us."

"I'm not really betrayin' us." Qrrog slid his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close. "Trust me, Brighteyes, please. I know exactly what I'm doin'. We'll be back with Saskia and Coele within the week."

I clung to his arm and nodded. As much as I wanted to be relieved, I couldn't quite get there yet. "What if you're lying to me? What if you've been lying this whole time?" I took off my glasses to wipe my tears on my sleeve. "I just don't understand—you had so many opportunities to triple-cross already. We know who's stealing from Mogworks, and we just uncovered a huge piracy operation."

I turned around to look at my husband. "If you get us out of here now, we can tell Basch, and the Judges can bring this place down!" Our clan had a rapport with the Judge Magister of the Archadian Empire, thanks to yours truly. Not that I'm bragging or anything. "Why isn't that a viable plan?"

Qrrog smiled and held my face in his claws. "I _could_. But I got an opportunity here, and I ain't gonna pass it up." His grin faded as he looked me square in the eye. "Terra." I knew he was serious, because he stops using nicknames when he's serious. "Please trust me. I need yer help with this. If I can pull this off, things are gonna be so much better. I can't give you all the details yet, so you'll just have to trust me. I've never lied to you before. I ain't gonna start now."

He was right. Even when he was double-crossing, he had never outright lied to me, and he had always kept me safe. His methods were anything but orthodox, but that was why they worked so well. I had to trust him. He had gotten us into this mess and I had the faith he knew how to get us out of it, and do so in style.

I was tired of doubts making a wreck of my mind. With a smile, I flung my arms around him. "Of course I trust you, you big weirdo. I'm excited to see what you have planned."

Qrrog laughed and patted my back. "Aye, it's gonna be a doozy, lemme tell you! Just sit tight and be yerself, love, and yer ol' pirate captain'll steer you through this storm."

"You're cute when you use nautical metaphors."

"And yer cute all the time."


	5. Chapter 5

While I'm sure Qrrog could have convinced someone to bring us lunch in our quarters, we both wanted to check up on Vasily, so we elected to eat in the great hall of the fortress. It had been set up cafeteria-style, with a smorgasbord of food for people to choose from and then sit at tables and benches scattered about.

Qrrog piled his plate high with victuals, and helped me find the freshest fruits, cheeses, and breads for my own platter. I felt bad for eating what I knew was stolen food, but my husband pointed out that I was not the one who had stolen it, I didn't currently have the capacity to return it, and the best service I could do for its rightful owners now was make sure it didn't go to waste. And, well, starving myself wouldn't help anyone.

Vasily was sitting at a table by himself in the corner, hunched over a plate stacked with thick strips of bacon and slices of cured ham. He gave us an irritated look out of the corner of his eye when we sat down across from him, although a chunk of meat was currently occupying his mouth.

He tilted up his snout and swallowed it, and then went back to glaring at us. "I hate people."

Qrrog laughed and chomped into one of his own pieces of bacon. "Sorry, Scales, but it's nothin' you can't handle. I know you got yer big-bangaa britches on."

"They're louder'n a russty crankshaft!" Vasily snarled, taking out his frustrations on another unfortunate piece of ham. "Couldn't get nary a wink o' shuteye! And they all ssmell awful!"

I smiled. Knowing Vasily as long as I had, I came to learn that he likes to complain. It's when he's quiet that he's _really_ upset about something. "Vasily, you think all non-bangaa smell awful," I pointed out.

"Aye, and ssome o' me own brethren and sssisterss don't ssmell that great either! And don't get me sstarted on the bloke on the bunk above mine—wouldn't sstop movin' around, it was like tryin' ter ssleep through a bloomin' hurricane!" In order to appease his exasperation, he stuffed a bread roll in his maw. "Oy, I needed me mornin' meat," he muttered to himself.

Qrrog and I looked at each other and chuckled. Vasily's always like this when he wakes up. Food seems to perk him up to the point where he's at least slightly less grumpy.

"You feelin' better, Terra?" our Cannoneer asked after a few more bites of food.

"Much," I replied. "Sorry you didn't sleep well. It—" I stopped myself before I could say it would only be a few more days that he'd have to sleep in the billets. I didn't want to run the risk of being overheard. "I'm sure it'll get better."

Vasily was more willing to play the part of belligerent hostage, for obvious reasons. He leaned over the table at Qrrog. "I want me bloomin' ship back, boyo."

My husband grinned. "All in good time, Scales, all in good time."

"I told Nono I'd be back for 'er in five dayss!" Vasily banged his fist on the table, his four long ears swaying beneath his muzzle. "I ain't lettin' the _Juggernaut_ get impounded 'coz of a hotshot pirate who thinkss he runss the clan!"

A large brown hand grabbed Vasily's scarf and pulled him back to his chair. "Settle down, mate, before you burst a blood vessel," Jihl said.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that," Qrrog laughed. "I consider it entertainment with me lunch."

Jihl leaned on the back of the chair next to Vasily's. "Well, you'd better finish that lunch soon. Ozra wants you to take command of one of the ships that's goin' out for a raid."

Qrrog glanced up at him. "Raid?"

"Aye. He's been havin' us pillage hamlets along the coast, since they're ill-defended. Where d'you think that food is from?"

I looked down at the apple in my hand guiltily and put it back on my plate. What poor farmer had this stuff been taken from?

My husband felt much the same way, as his smile faded. "That's pretty low, matey. Whatever happened to just goin' after merchant ships?"

Jihl sighed. "That's not how Ozra operates. Now c'mon, we're headin' out soon."

"Right." Qrrog nodded and turned to me. "Terra, love, I'll be back tonight. Hold down the fort for me." He gave me a hopeful smile. "Don't you worry none. Ol' Qrrog knows what he's doin'."

I sure hoped so. But after the conversation we'd had that morning, I had decided not to doubt him any more. I would support him in whatever crazy plan he'd concocted, even if I didn't fully understand it yet.

So I grinned back and leaned in to give him a hug. "Good luck out there. Stay safe."

He patted my head. "Always."

"Oh, and, uh…" Jihl looked over at me. "Your wife's a White Mage, right? Ozra wants her in the infirmary."

I grimaced. Spending my day having to heal pirates was not something I was looking forward to.

Qrrog put an arm around my shoulders. "Nah, she needs to stay with Vasily. Someone needs to keep him in line, he's got quite a temper."

"So I guess you could say he's a… loose cannon?" I said.

My husband snorted. "Well played."

The Cannoneer rolled his eyes and glared dourly up at Jihl. "See what I have ter deal with every bloomin' day."

The revgaji laughed. "Sorry mate, orders are orders."

"Seems to me," Qrrog said as he stood up, "that it'd be smart to keep a medic in the workshop. 'Asides, Brighteyes is loyal to me, but Scales here ain't quite convinced. There could be 'accidents' in the workplace, if you catch me drift." His grip on my shoulder tightened. "I'm sure Ozra'll understand."

Jihl watched us for a moment and then nodded with a smirk. "Aye, as long as you're out there raidin', and Vasily's in the workshop, I don't think he'll quite care what Terra does so long as she's not gettin' into trouble. And if she's not at her assigned post, he won't hear it from me."

"I won't get into trouble," I said. "I promise."

"I know," Jihl said.

Qrrog ducked his snout to my head. "Be back tonight." He scooped the remainder of his food into his arms and turned to Vasily. "Take good care of her, y'hear?"

"Aye, she won't be dyin' on my watch," the bangaa replied, waving his claws dismissively but giving me a wink at the same time. I trusted him to look out for me. For all his complaints and cynicism, he's a good guy.

Qrrog poked a claw at Vasily's muzzle. "I'll hold you to that, matey, or I'll string you up by yer ears!" And with one last smile my way, he and Jihl were gone.

Vasily and I ate in silence for a while. The great hall was cold and we were far from the fire, but neither of us particularly wanted to get closer to it because that was where the pirates were. Thankfully we'd dressed warm for our stakeout the night before.

Finally the bangaa looked up from his food at me. "You wishin' you hadn't burned yer Grimoire, kiddo?"

"Nope," I was quick to respond. "Qrrog knows what he's doing."

Vasily sighed. "You coulda had a normal life, y'know. None o' thiss nonssensse."

I took a bite of bread and grinned. "I like this nonsense."

"I'm jusst ssayin'." The Cannoneer yanked at a slice of ham, tearing off a mouthful and snapping it down his gullet. "Coulda married a _normal_ guy."

I made a face. "I don't like normal guys. Are you kidding me, Vasily? On Earth, everybody's a boring old hume. And most guys are pretty idiotic. Qrrog's the best husband I could ask for."

Vasily smirked. "Sso you got a thing fer tusskss, eh?"

Blushing, I stammered, "Th-that's not—"

He chuckled for a moment before sobering again. "I heard an old sstory once. Ssome kids found their way ter Ivalice through a Grimoire like yers. They had fun, they made friendss. But they knew it couldn't lasst. They had their own world ter get back to. They belonged there."

"And I belong _here_," I protested with a frown.

Vasily drummed his claws on the table. "There're folks with Grimoiress who go back even though they don't want to. And there're folks who sstay when they're not ss'possed to. They ssay the lust fer power corruptss 'em after a time."

My stomach clenched. What if that would happen to me? "No… I would never do that," I insisted. "What if I _do_ belong here? Vasily, this wasn't a decision I made lightly. I really thought about it, and I did what felt right in my heart. I swear." I put a hand on my chest. "I don't want power or anything like that. I just want to enjoy my life working alongside my friends and my husband." I paused. "Do you not want me here?" I asked quietly.

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that." The bangaa shook his head, his ears flapping back and forth. "I jusst worry about you ssometimess. What if yer misssin' out on a life back on Earth?"

I planted my hands on the table and stood up, leaning towards him. "I'm not missing out on anything. Trust me." My shoulders sagged. "I was in college when I found that Grimoire. That's when people are trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Well, I figured it out. It's unconventional, but all of my other options just didn't feel right." I narrowed my eyes. "What if there are people who stay in Ivalice because they're supposed to stay? Because they're needed here?"

Vasily leaned back on the bench and said nothing for a moment. "Aye… I ss'pposse that'ss at leasst a possibility…"

"Please don't make me doubt myself now." I sat back down. "Qrrog needs me. I don't know exactly what he's doing, but I have faith in him. He's never let us down before."

The bangaa let out a short sigh. "Sssorry, kiddo. Shouldn't have brought that up…"

"It's okay… I appreciate your concern, but I know what I'm doing." I didn't want to make this any more awkward than it already was, which meant an abrupt change of subject was in order. "Anyway. Have you gone to the workshop yet?"

"Nar. Jusst woke up, mesself. Was goin' to go after lunch."

"Sounds like a plan."


	6. Chapter 6

"When they said 'workshop'," I said, craning my neck, "I didn't expect _this_."

I had been envisioning a smallish, smithy-type operation, but what Vasily and I saw as we walked through a large set of double doors was an enormous hall, covered from ceiling to floor with machinery of all sorts. Mysterious masses sat shrouded with tarps, and cables thick and thin draped from wall to wall like vines in a jungle. Contraptions like distended robotic arms dangled from railings high above our heads.

The stone floor was littered with workbenches and tools, and blueprints in various states of rolling. Canisters of magicite cast a faint glow on black, oil-slicked metal, while several generators clustered in a corner held more of the crystals, pulsing with pensive energy. A dull hum filled the air, and the smell of grease and magick filled our noses.

"Blimey," Vasily breathed, his eyes wide. "No wonder they were sstealin' from Mogworkss!"

"Yeah, but the question remains why," I muttered. I clutched my staff tightly as we strode deeper into the bowels of the mechanical labyrinth. Our footsteps pattered on the stone, but received no reply. The place seemed devoid of life, despite being operational.

Vasily snorted and raised his claws to his snout. "Oi! Anybody 'ere?" His barking voice echoed off the metal.

I bit the side of my mouth. "Okay, this is kinda spooky…"

Suddenly, one of the machines near us roared to life. Steam belched from its engine and ribbons of magick streamed down the circuitry in its sides as it rattled and shook.

Adrenaline jammed my system. Vasily and I let out yells and I stumbled back into him. The bangaa was caught off balance and I bowled him over, sending us both sprawling into a pile of blueprints as the mechanical behemoth continued its tirade.

Finally, after a few seconds it wound down again, its commotion settling into a more manageable rumble.

"Vasily…" I moaned, reaching into one of my belt pouches and pulling out a glowing orange feather. "If I have a heart attack, use this Phoenix Down on me."

"Funny," he muttered from beneath me, "I was about ter ask the ssame thing."

"At least _you_ didn't land on top of _me_ this time." I'd had that happen before. Twice.

"Kupopo!" A hatch on the side of the machine opened, and out popped a yellow pom-pom.

Vasily clamped his claws over his snout. "Oh, _no_."

I pushed off of him and offered him a hand. "What? I thought you didn't mind Moogles."

"I ain't in the mood ter deal with one today." He gripped my hand and staggered to his feet. "I sswear I'm gonna throttle that husband o' yers…"

"That ought to do it!" A pair of tiny gloved hands gripped the weathered metal. "Won't have any trouble from that fuel line any more, kupo!"

The bangaa sighed, looking pained as he tilted his head up at the source of the voice. "You in charge around 'ere?"

"Eh?" A small, purple-winged Moogle hoisted herself out of the hatch. Her cream-colored fur was streaked and matted with dark grease, and the tuft of hair on her head had its tips dyed pink. She wore goggles around her neck and a tool belt hung from her shoulder. "Yeah, I am! What're you—_stop touching the kupo blueprints!_"

I had been trying to reassemble them into their original formation, but I froze and backed away from the rolls of paper apologetically. "Sorry…"

"What were you _thinkin'?!_" Vasily hissed at the diminutive mechanist. "Bloomin' near sscared uss ter death, you did!"

She flitted down to us and clenched her fists as she alighted on the floor. "Well, excuse me for not knowing you were here, kupo! I've been working all kupo morning on that faulty generator! You expect me to stop just because two kupo morons walk in?"

"Thiss moron," Vasily snarled, jabbing a thumb at himself, "is yer new assssisssstant!"

I grimaced and stepped between the two. "So, uh, let's get all of the introductions squared away, shall we?" I turned to the Moogle and bowed. "I'm Terra Fullmer, and this is my clanmate Vasily. We were assigned to help you. You are?"

Her dark eyes narrowed. "Winnifrith Edilvert Mortlock," she said in a sing-song tone. "Just call me Winn. Kupo."

"Mortlock?" Vasily drew back, nostrils flaring. "Of House Mortlock?"

Winn's gaze dropped and she kicked at the floor absently. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Who?" I asked.

The bangaa glanced over at me. "One o' the richesst and mosst influential Moogle families in Goug. They've financed engineerin' ressearch fer generations."

Winn took a spanner from her tool belt and inspected it absently. "I'm not anybody _important_, kupo. Just the third cousin to the heiress. But my kupo parents wouldn't leave me alone. Go to school, they said, get a job at some firm and rise up the ranks." She folded her arms and leaned against the generator, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "It's never been about what _I_ want. My whole kupo family's obsessed with image. They want kids they can brag about."

Vasily raised an eyebrow ridge. "You sseem ter like engineerin' well enough."

"Yeah, but—" Winn pushed off from the metal and started pacing around us. "I don't want to live my whole kupo life trying to please some boss and beat deadlines! I've got my own projects to work on, kupo, and if I don't build them, who will?"

"And that's why you joined the pirates," I guessed. "And why they've been stealing materials and equipment for you from Mogworks."

She smiled. "Yep. I met this hume guy, Ozra, in Goug. We got to talking, he liked my ideas, and he gave me a kupo offer I couldn't pass up."

Vasily and I exchanged worried looks. "And… what would that be?" I asked.

Winn opened her mouth to answer, but paused. "You guys don't look like pirates, kupo. I'm not sure I should trust you."

"And you _should_ trust piratess?" Vasily asked dryly.

"We're conscripts," I replied. "Ozra told Vasily to work for you." The bangaa nodded. "And I'm your walking first-aid kit." I held up my staff.

Winn wrinkled her tiny nose. "Hmm. Fine. Check this out, kupo." She scrambled toward a control console and her stubby fingers began flicking switches and turning dials.

Above us, the hanging mechanical arms jolted to life in a surge of magick. They glided along their rails and reached down to pluck the tarps from the mystery behemoths that crowded the floor.

As the cloth rose, my stomach dropped. "You've got to be kidding me," I breathed.

"Sscionss preserve uss," Vasily hissed.

Towering overhead were three bipedal machines encased in slick black armor. Their talon-like feet and the wicked curves of their chassis made them look almost draconic. Glossair rings were mounted on their backs. Imbedded into the imposing head of each one was an array of small weapons barrels, which complemented a larger cannon. It was all too obvious that these things were made to deal some serious damage.

"Pretty kupo sweet, huh?" Winn placed her hands on her hips proudly. "They're my own design! I call them magitek armor, kupo. Ozra says I can build as many as I want!"

Vasily ground his teeth. "They're weapons. Why is Ozra lettin' you build weapons."

The moogle frowned. "I don't know—why does it matter? I do what I want, kupo!"

He turned toward her with a scowl. "You never sstopped ter assk 'im what he's gonna use these for?! Are you daft?!"

"I'm not going back to Goug, kupo!" Winn stomped her foot. "You can't make me! They _appreciate_ me here, kupo!"

I was pretty bewildered, myself. As awesome as these things looked—well, the fact that they were being built in the base of a pirate king was worrisome, to say the least. I certainly didn't find it ethical to assist in their creation, and I knew Vasily didn't, either.

On the other hand, Qrrog needed me to trust him. And he had specifically wanted me to stick with Vasily, and gotten me out of being separated from my clanmate. I knew my husband in turn trusted me to not trip up his plans. Which meant following my gut, no matter how strange it might seem.

So I sighed and stepped between them again. "We won't make you go back to Goug, Winn." This seemed to placate her a little, and I looked at Vasily who was still fuming. "Let's just do what we came here to do. We were asked to help Winn in the workshop. And that's what we'll do." I stared at him pleadingly. He was the wild card here—his cooperation could make or break this whole operation. Whatever it was.

An awkward silence passed between us for a moment, and then he nodded. "Fine. But I ain't gonna like it."

"Nobody asked you to like it, Gramps," Winn muttered, turning back to the console.

"_Grampss?!_" Vasily snapped his jaws in annoyance. "How old do you think I _am?!_"

"Way older than me, kupo," came the response as the arms began to move again.

I watched as they maneuvered around the magitek armor, picking up materials with a delicate strength. "Did you build all of this yourself?"

"Yep. Gramps, grab a toolbelt." Winn brandished her spanner as she strutted over to a workbench. "I don't have the patience for a team, kupo. So I built and programmed those rigs to do the heavy work for me." She sifted through the parts that littered the table until she found what she was looking for. "What, you thought I just flew around here all day lifting sheet metal all by my kupo self?"

Vasily reached for a utility belt hanging on a nearby rack and secured it around his waist. "I gotta ssay, I'm pretty impressssed, pipssqueak."

"'Pipsqueak'?!" Winn squeaked.

I suppressed a snort.

"If you getss ter call me 'Grampss', I getss ter call you 'pipssqueak'," Vasily said with a smirk as he crouched at the other side of the table and examined the current project.

Winn glowered at him for a moment and then snickered. "Fair enough. You'd better know what you're doing, kupo. The last guy Ozra sent in to help ended up mangling a component so kupo bad, I had to build it over from scratch!" The moogle pushed back her tuft of hair and sorted through a pile of screws. "So I complained to Ozra and he told me he'd take care of the lout. Last time I ever saw that kupo idiot, and good riddance."

"I'm beginning to dislike this guy's administration practices," I muttered under my breath.

"Well, that ain't gonna happen thiss time," Vasily said. "You may be a prodigy, pipssqueak, but with age comes experience. I've been the captain of me own airship fer longer than you've been alive." He picked up a gizmo from the table and inspected it. "Aye, I likess ter think I knows a thing or two about machines."

Winn's eyes widened and she looked up at him. "You have your own _airship_, kupo?"

"Aye." Vasily puffed out his chest in pride. "The _Juggernaut_, she's the apple o' me eye. Carries me and me clan around Ivalice, good ol' gal."

The hostility in the moogle's demeanor lessened as she leaned over the table like she was being told an exciting bedtime story. "I bet being in a clan is a lot of kupo fun… My family doesn't think much of clan work—they say it's an unstable occupation, kupo." Her gaze traveled back to her workbench. "But I'd much rather be out having adventures than be cooped up in a kupo corporation for the next forty years."

"There's nothing wrong with that," I said. "Wanting adventures, I mean."

She looked over at me. "Do you really think so, kupo?"

I smiled. "Sure. We all have our own path to follow in life. I'm a misfit adventurer, myself."

"Don't egg 'er on," Vasily grumbled.

"Says the guy who's in a clan himself, kupo," Winn said.

"Aye, but at leasst I ain't buildin'—" Vasily gestured to the warmechs. "_Those!_"

Winn bristled and her wings flapped in agitation. "There's nothing wrong with my kupo magitek armor units! I worked really kupo hard on those!"

I leaned over the table, blocking her view of the bangaa. "So, what can _I_ do to help?"

She scrunched her nose and continued to glare at Vasily for a moment, then looked at me. "How good are you with machines, kupo?"

"I'll be honest, I don't have the technical training or experience that Vasily does. But I've helped him with repairs around the Juggernaut, and I'll be happy to be your go-fer."

Winn tilted her head. "Go-fer?"

Vasily laughed. "Aye, you know, 'go fer partss', 'go fer lunch', that ssorta thing."

"Ohh." The young moogle chuckled and tugged at her pom-pom, which dangled over her workspace. She consulted the schematics spread between her and Vasily, and looked back up at me. "In that case, could you get us some magick capacitors?" She pointed to a stack of crates and miscellaneous parts. "They're the rod-shaped things, there should be a few of them in there, kupo."

I nodded. "Sure thing."

"Sso how did you get sso good at thiss, anyway, pipssqueak," Vasily asked as I made my way to the pile of implements.

"I've always liked building things, kupo, ever since I was little. I also liked to take things apart to see how they worked. Drove my parents crazy, kupo!"

Vasily laughed. "Ssounds like me when I was a wee lad!"

"Did technology even exist back then, Gramps?"

"Oi, don't push it, kid."

I crouched down and began to sift through the pile, carefully setting aside each component as I wondered about its function. There weren't any capacitors visible on the surface, so I began to dig deeper. A coil of thick cable lay in my way, so I lifted it and discovered one end was still hidden in the mound.

I tried to jimmy it out, but it seemed to be caught on something, so I reached in my hand to try to pull out what it had snagged on. My fingers closed around something cool, hard, and sharp. I tugged. It was heavy. So I tugged harder.

It finally yielded, and with no small effort I pulled it out, exposing it to the light. My eyes widened.

It was a Grimoire.

Similar to the one I had owned and destroyed years ago, it was a thick tome with gold plating on the binding that resembled an intricately-spoked wheel—the part I had grabbed it by. A flap of leather closed the front and back covers, securing the contents, but as I held it in my hands the latch opened and the flap fell aside, as though it was bidding me to open it.

My heart hammered in my chest. This was just like how I'd been pulled into Ivalice in the first place, all those years ago. If I opened this book, I could find myself back on Earth, and all of this would have seemed like just a dream, my own version of Narnia.

But Narnia turned out to be permanent in the end, I reminded myself. I frowned and shoved the Grimoire back into the pile, and continued my search for something that matched Winn's description. This wasn't just a silly flight of wish-fulfillment. I had real ties to this world and its inhabitants. I was not going to abandon them out of a sense of guilty obligation to join the rat race.

"Terra?" Vasily called. "Everything okay over there?"

"Y-yeah," I replied hoarsely, rifling through the goods at a quicker pace. "Sorry about that." My tone betrayed me, I knew, so I just hoped Vasily wouldn't ask questions.

Thankfully he didn't, and neither did Winn. All things considered, the day went well. Although the two continued to bicker, it was obvious that they each admired the other's technical skill and a sense of camaraderie had begun to develop between them. The moogle even ended up accompanying us to dinner so she and Vasily could continue to talk shop—and make jabs at each other's ages.

For my part, I continued to help in whatever ways I could, but there was a terrible knot in my stomach for the rest of the day, and I studiously avoided the pile where the Grimoire lay.

Questions ran through my mind unceasingly. Should I tell Qrrog about it? Of course, I wouldn't keep any secrets from my own husband. Was I meant to find it? That was a tougher one. Would Grimoires simply continue to haunt me for the rest of my life, tempting me to abandon my life here and resign myself to the world from which I had come? And the clincher: was I really doing the right thing?

I tried not to think too much about it, but that was easier said than done.


	7. Chapter 7

Qrrog, Jihl, and their raiding crew got back to the fortress after dinner. Thankfully they were all in one piece, and my husband and his former quartermaster, now first mate were in high spirits as the crew swarmed the great hall and inhaled food at an unholy pace.

Jihl sported a nasty gash on his arm that I insisted on healing as soon as I saw it, but thankfully Qrrog's injuries were minor. While he's good at playing the reckless fool, in actuality he's extremely cautious and calculating—even more so now that he has a wife who frets ceaselessly over him.

After the pirates had eaten their fill, Qrrog and I retired to our quarters, where he washed up and then I set to work healing him while he relaxed. It was raining that night, which made the fire in the hearth all the cozier.

"How did it go?" I asked as I held my staff over him, casting a Cura.

"Went great." He grinned. "And by that I mean it went great for our targets too, I made sure o' that."

My shoulders slumped in relief and a smile spread across my own face. I knew he wouldn't let me down. "Oh?"

"Yep. I made an agreement with the village, set up a taxin' system so's we don't send everything up in flames every time we visit. Lot easier on 'em that way." He sighed. "Optimally we wouldn't be raidin' at all, but… I feel like that'd be too much to try to get past Ozra right now."

I nodded. "Right. Well… you did what you could. Thank you."

He tucked his hands behind his head as the last streams of magick dissipated into him. "Man alive, it does feel like old times again. Me crew wasn't too quick to trust me, but I'm fair and I know what I'm doin'. I overheard a few of 'em on the way back—said they wouldn't mind workin' under me again."

"Oh." I leaned my staff against the wall next to his axe and paused there for a moment. "Do you miss it that much?" I asked quietly.

He reached out and took my hand, and gave it a squeeze. "I reminisce about it sometimes. There're things I'm proud of and things I ain't so proud of. But it's nothin' compared to what I got now, Brighteyes. I wouldn't trade you or our clan fer all the treasure that's ever been plundered."

I turned to look at him, square in his dark eyes. There I saw nothing but sincerity. It was all I'd ever seen when he looked at me.

"I trust you." I squeezed his hand in return.

Qrrog watched me for a moment. "Somethin's troublin' you, lass." He patted beside him. "Why don't you tell yer ol' pirate captain what's on yer mind."

I curled up next to him and took off my glasses, which can make cuddling unwieldy. "I'm scared—I don't want to go back," I whispered.

He put an arm around my shoulders. "Mm?"

"I found a Grimoire today." I frowned and looked up at him. "But I'm not going to use it, I swear. Ivalice is my home now. And you're my husband—I love you and I promised to stand by you forever. I'm never going to break that promise."

Qrrog grinned. "Well then, that settles it, don't it?"

"I hope so, but—what if it doesn't? Vasily says if people from other worlds stay here, they get corrupted by power. What if I'm just not supposed to be here? What if I've just been running away from a life on Earth?" I leaned my head against his shoulder. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but… what if I'm not?"

He let out a long sigh and was silent for a few seconds as he stared up at the ceiling. "If you feel you should go back… it'd be wrong to stop you." Turning to look at me, he added, "But that don't mean I don't need you, Brighteyes. If you go back, I'm findin' a way to go with you!" He chuckled and mussed my hair. "Can't get rid o' me that easy, love."

I snickered. "I didn't mean it like that. I really don't want to go back, I'm serious." I closed my eyes, listening to the rain patter comfortingly against the windowpanes, and yawned. "I do feel like I belong here. And I'm determined to help you. If the powers that be want me back on Earth, they're going to have to try a lot harder than this to rip me away from you. Especially now, when you need me for whatever crazy plan you're brewing."

"I can't tell you how much that means to me, lass." Qrrog buried his snout in my hair. "It'll be worth yer while, cross me heart."

"I don't doubt it," I replied.

"Just follow yer heart. It's lookin' out for you, just like I am. Neither of us have ever steered you wrong before." He turned out the lamp, leaving us with the flickering glow of the dying flames in the hearth. "If it weren't fer yer great heart, after all, I'd still be the scourge o' the seas."

"And you'd still smell like old fish." I was thankful that those days were long gone. It had taken quite a while to fully purge that odor from him, though.

Qrrog chuckled. "Now wouldn't that be unfortunate."

"Somehow I don't think you minded that part quite so much," I said with a smirk that escalated into another yawn.

"So how was yer day? Babysittin' Vasily can be a chore, I know."

I laughed. "It went well. We found out why the pirates have been stealing tech from Mogworks. They have a mechanist here. Her name's Winn—Winnifrith something—she goes by Winn. She's a moogle, seems like she's just out of secondary school."

"Now what's she doin' here, hm?"

"Building warmechs. She's some sort of prodigy and Bloodblade took her in. Whatever he's planning to use those weapons for, it won't be pretty."

Qrrog smiled. "I figured somethin' was up. Thanks for the intel, love. I knew you'd get to the bottom of it for me."

"Let me guess, this factors into your plan, too?"

"Somewhat, yeah."

I put an arm around him. "Vasily and I are helping her finish building them. Are we doing the right thing?"

My husband's grin widened. "A tool's a tool, love. You can use it fer good or fer evil. They ain't been used for anythin' yet."

"True…" I mused. "And, okay, they are pretty awesome-looking."

"I'll bet they are! I can't wait to see 'em!"

"It's just their provenance that worries me," I said.

Qrrog pulled the down comforter up and tucked it around my shoulders as the fire faded into embers. "Don't you worry about that none. Yer ol' captain's got everything under control. And you're doin' exactly what I need you to."

I nestled closer to him. "Thanks, Qrrog. You always have a way of putting things that gives me more confidence in myself."

"That's me job, love. And I take pride in it."

"You're great at it," I murmured.

"Thanks, Brighteyes."

While I didn't have all the answers, I knew which course of action brought me the most peace of mind, and suddenly life seemed less confusing than it had all day. With that thought soaking into my soul, I fell asleep.

The next few days ticked by rather quickly. Vasily and I continued to help Winn in the workshop. While finishing her magitek armor units was an underlying priority, there was also general repair work to be done, so we were never lacking for work. I continued to stay far away from the pile where the Grimoire lay, and thankfully Winn never asked for anything from it again.

Meanwhile, my husband endeared himself more and more to the crews he commanded. While there were still some who disliked him, in a matter of days it got to the point where pirates would actually clamor to go with him on raids. Those closer to Bloodblade murmured their discontent, but Qrrog assured them that he was simply doing his job, and he couldn't help his natural charisma.

For my part, I believed in him. Even though with each passing day, Vasily became more and more neurotic about picking up the _Juggernaut_ – and Saskia and Coele – I clung to my faith in my husband. He wouldn't tell me everything about his plan, but that was probably wise, seeing as he often employed the element of surprise and I'm an awful actor. But I could tell something was brewing, something to do with his gaining influence over more and more of Bloodblade's subordinates.

Then, the night before the last day of the tournament - the day Vasily was scheduled to pick up the _Juggernaut_ \- I had a dream. I could tell it was a dream because I had no control over my body—I'm anything but a lucid dreamer.

Unbidden, I watched myself drift into the workshop, to the taboo pile. My hands worked under some other power as they dug out the Grimoire. I shouted at my dream self to stop, but it was too late—she opened the cover.

A blinding white light enveloped my vision and I became weightless. I sucked in a breath, waiting to be unceremoniously dumped back on Earth, but instead I continued to hang suspended in some sort of dimensional limbo.

Oh great. I was stuck, wasn't I. Like when an elevator gets stuck between floors. Too bad there wasn't an emergency button I could push.

_Terra Fullmer. _A voice made of many voices, forceful and indignant, echoed through the white abyss. _Why do you continue to defy your nature?_

I clenched my fists. "I'm not going back," I growled. "Ivalice is my home now. I renounce my Earth citizenship."

_Those who use Grimoires are never fated to stay in Ivalice. Their potential for damage is too great._

"I'm not leaving my husband," I said with narrowed eyes. "Our marriage bound us together with an oath to the gods. I'm not breaking it because of the paranoia of a disembodied voice."

_You are throwing the worlds out of balance!_ The voice's tone grew panicked and urgent, as though something terrible would happen if I did not heed it right that instant. _People on Earth need you! You are throwing yourself away here!_

I faltered. Was all of this really just selfish escapism? No—the faces of my clanmates flashed past my mind's eye. I scowled. "People in Ivalice need me, too. Spout all the rationale you want, I know the choice that gives me the most peace." I hunched my shoulders. "You can't scare me into abandoning my family!"

_Stop being foolish and listen to me!_ the voice roared. _You are making a terrible mistake! Do not trust the whims of your fallible mortal heart!_

"I won't doubt myself any more!" I yelled in reply. "I'm not going back—_I'm not going back!_"

The voice let out an anguished cry and then the light blotched into darkness. Some invisible force yanked me backward, and I plummeted—

I jolted awake, panic and tension still knotting my stomach. Qrrog's arms were around me, and one of his long, floppy ears was draped over my head.

It was still dark and the fire had long since died. Outside, the cold wind howled and rapped at the shutters, demanding in vain to be let in. I lay there for a few moments just listening to the sound of our breathing, piecing together my thoughts, making sure I was really where I wanted to be.

This felt right. That was all there was to it. If I returned to Earth, I would forever regret that decision. Now I regretted nothing. Strange and difficult as things were sometimes, it was all worth it.

"You okay?" my husband murmured.

"Mm-hm." I ducked my head to his chest. "I'm not going back. I promise."

His grip on me tightened comfortingly. "I'm glad to hear it… I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me either." Slowly my stomach unclenched. I was okay, I was safe. I had done the right thing, and everything would work out. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Nothing more needed to be said. We were each other's security from everything that assailed us. And no one could take that away from us so long as we defended it. With that thought in mind, I drifted back off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Vasily pounded his fist on the table. "You'd better have ssome bloomin' fine trick up yer ssleeves, boyo, 'coz I gotss ter pick up the _Juggernaut_ within the next _twelve bloomin' hours!_"

We were sitting at breakfast, prepping for another average working day at a mythical pirate fortress. Well, average except for the deadlines involved.

Our resident cranky bangaa ripped into a thick cut of ham with his rows of sharp teeth. "Ssome disspatch mission thiss turned out ter be! Ssasskia's gonna dock our pay fer thiss, you know!"

Qrrog laughed as he bit a sausage from its links. "Don't blow a gasket, Scales! You'll see yer baby again, mark me words!"

"But you'll stay long enough to help me finish the magitek armor, won't you, kupo?" Winn asked, leaning on the table beside Vasily. "We're so kupo close to being done! All of the essential systems are finished, kupo—we just need to install the last few redundancy components and run some final checks!"

The Cannoneer looked down at her ruefully. "But I gotss ter get me ship back, elsse she'll get impounded… not ter mention we told our clanmatess we'd pick 'em up termorrow."

Winn frowned. "But I still need your help, kupo!"

I silently nibbled at a piece of fruit, my thoughts turning every which way. I was determined to stay here, I had made my decision last night. That no longer troubled me. But time was running out for Qrrog to pull off a grand finale. Then again, the closer the shave, the more elaborate and incredible his solution would probably be. I had to keep thinking positive.

Vasily massaged his snout and closed his eyes. "I _know_, pipssqueak, but—"

"Bloodblade wants to see you." The hume Thief from the night of our stakeout put a hand on our table authoritatively. "All of you. Now." Behind her were gathered a number of other pirates who didn't look too happy to see us.

My eyes widened and I put the fruit down, feeling my skin prickle. This didn't look good.

Qrrog gave them all a friendly grin. "Now? But we're right in the middle o' breakfast, lass!"

She bristled. "_Now_. That's an order, direct from him." Her other hand strayed to the dagger at her belt. "And I have permission to enforce it."

"As if thiss day couldn't get any bloomin' worsse," Vasily muttered to Winn, who was staring up at the pirates in confusion.

Qrrog put an arm around my shoulders and chuckled. "All right, all right, no need to get sand in yer britches, lass. We're a'comin'."

The four of us stood up and brigands surrounded us, hemming us in. I clutched my staff tightly as they herded us out of the great hall. As we moved through the fortress, curious onlookers began to accumulate until it felt like we were the main attraction in some parade of anxiety.

We were taken up the stairs that led to Bloodblade's throne room. I sure hoped this was part of Qrrog's plan, but I didn't dare vocalize that with the company we were in. They didn't know he had a plan, after all.

The pirate king was reclining on his throne, just the way we had seen him last, with that same smug grin on his face. He tilted his head upward as we entered, looking like a cat that had finally caught an elusive bird. "So good of you to come. Seize them."

Pirates grabbed Qrrog, Vasily, and I, restraining our arms. One bangaa reached down and snatched Winn up by her wings, allowing her to kick and flail in midair protest. Vasily snarled and snapped at his captors, until a rough jab in the ribs from a seeq finally quieted him.

From behind us, another batch of pirates emerged, pushing Jihl forward. When he saw us, the revgaji's eyes widened. "What in blazes is goin' on, mate?"

My husband grinned. "Looks like we're havin' a party."

Bloodblade sat up. "Wipe that idiotic grin off your face. I know exactly what you've been doin' these past few days—tryin' to take control of my fleets." He pushed himself to his feet and stalked toward us. "If you think I'm goin' to tolerate that, you're wrong. _Dead_ wrong."

"Ozra!" Winn squeaked. "I didn't do anything, kupo, I swear! The magitek armor is nearly done! I'm going to finish it for you, kupo!"

He glared at her. "You had better, you little rat, or I'll throw you to the sharks! And don't get any funny ideas—you're under _my_ command, you'd do well to remember that!"

"Hey!" Vasily barked, throwing himself forward despite the three pirates holding him. "You leave her alone!"

Bloodblade turned to him. All traces of the king's smugness were now vanished and replaced with cold rage. "No one," he seethed, "orders me around." He drew his saber—the metal was crimson and hummed with magick. "You're goin' to find out first-hand how I earned my title."

I looked over at Qrrog, wondering how in the world he was going to get us out of this one. If he really did have a brilliant plan up his sleeve, there would be no better time to do the big reveal.

He burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?!" The pirate king spun around and pointed his saber at my husband's snout. "Idiot seeq, how did you win over so many of my men and women when you don't even have the brains to know when you're in mortal peril?!"

"Sorry," Qrrog chuckled. "Didn't mean to upset you none. It's just, I thought you were gonna put on more of a show fer yer crew than this. Would be awful boring if you just killed us all quick-like."

"So you want to die slowly?" Bloodblade hissed.

Qrrog narrowed his eyes. "I challenge you to a duel. Fer yer throne."

A wave of surprise rippled through the rest of us. I gaped in shock. This was definitely not what I had been expecting.

Neither had Bloodblade. His eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Arrogant bilge rat! What makes you think I'll grant that request?" He raised his blade. "I'll cut you down where you stand!"

Shouts of protest rose up from the crowd, and several pirates put their hands on their own weapons. "Down with Bloodblade!" someone hollered, and "We want Squallhammer!"

"Mutiny!" Bloodblade snarled. "Treacherous dogs!"

"Show 'im what you're made of, cap'n!" the Thief shouted, raising her fist.

Jihl glowered over at her. "You're outnumbered, y'know!" Indeed, there seemed to be more people rooting for the Squallhammer than the Bloodblade.

"Seems to me," Qrrog said with a sly grin, "that the people need a little help decidin' who to follow."

The pirate king scowled. "Don't look so smug about it. Single combat, right here, right now." He motioned to one of the pirates, who returned Qrrog's axe to him. "We'll show them who's earned the right to be their king."

The seeq Viking hefted his weapon thoughtfully. "I got an idea—let's mix this up a bit. Doubles combat." He smiled saccharinely. "I'll be nice and let you choose after me."

Bloodblade glared at their audience, his pale eyes piercing through each of us, analyzing us for signs of trickery. "Very well. Make your choice."

Jihl perked up. "I don't have my lance with me, mate, but I'm just as good with a blade—"

Qrrog held up a hand. "Sorry, matey. There'll be other times fer the two of us to show our stuff." He pointed to me. "Terra. Will you be me second?"

A surge of emotions hit me. Was I ready for this? He would be counting on me to work together with him, and as a White Mage I would be responsible for keeping him healed and defended. Unfortunately, Bloodblade's lackeys had caught us off guard at breakfast, and my potions were back in Qrrog's and my quarters. Could I do this without them, relying on my magick alone? Was I strong enough?

None of that mattered. What mattered was that Qrrog needed me. I grinned. "Aye aye, captain!" The pirates released me and I took my place at his side.

My husband patted my head. "Yer cute when you try to talk like a pirate, love. Don't worry, just do yer thing. Together, we're unbeatable."

"Hm, I guess you have some sense in you," Bloodblade muttered. "In that case…" He motioned to the crowd, and out stepped a nu mou.

She wore the brown robes of a Sage, and her gray skin was wrinkled with age. There was a malevolent glint in her dark eyes as she plodded over to Bloodblade, using a long-poled mace as a support.

"Oh. I nearly forgot to mention." The pirate king stretched his neck and rotated his shoulders, giving his sword a few test swings. "Fair warning. This place is a jagd. In case you hadn't already figured that out."

I paled, and Qrrog patted my shoulder. Vasily let out a wordless hiss. We all knew what that meant. Worgen Island was not under the clan judges' jurisdiction. They had no power to prevent our death in battle.

"Don't do it, kupo!" Winn shouted, twisting around to try to free herself. "Ozra, I'll build you anything you want, just let them go, kupo!"

"You'll build for me whether they live or die!" Bloodblade snarled. He sneered over at us. "I hope you'll at least put up a bit of a fight."

Qrrog's grin widened. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The Thief stepped between our two dueling parties and held up her hand. "For the throne of the Pirate King!"

I steadied my breathing, watching the nu mou inspect her stubby fingernails absently. She looked over at me with a cruel smirk. "This shall hardly be a challenge, if I am to be pitted against such an infantile hume."

"Infantile?" I scowled. "I'm twenty-seven!"

She laughed. "Talk to me when you are two hundred and twenty-seven, and then we shall see about being equals in our art!"

The Thief dropped her hand and ducked away. "Begin!"

Qrrog let out a throaty bellow and charged toward Bloodblade, whose saber gleamed red as he held it over his head. Their weapons clashed with a dissonant cry.

As they locked blades, I had my own part to play. I planted the tip of my staff in the floor and called on my mana reserves, whispering spells and stealing glances at the Sage who was doing the same. We layered Cures and Barriers on our respective fighters, keeping them buoyant.

Our role was just as vital as theirs—without us, they would have no support. Our magicks butted against each other in the air, sparking and shuddering. The Sage knew as well as I that there was a delicate balance between pushing our minds too far, and leaving our fighters in the lurch.

Qrrog and Bloodblade spun and swept around each other in an unrelenting dance. The pirate king clearly knew what he was doing with a saber. But Qrrog was much faster than he looked, and his axe moved with the fluidity and precision of an extension of his arms. It became clear that Bloodblade had underestimated him.

I registered this in the back of my mind, but there was no time to celebrate yet. I had to keep feeding my will into my spells—there would be time enough for rest afterward. Because I could feel the magick sapping at my own strength, while the nu mou looked as though spellcasting was as effortless as snapping her fingers.

The pirate king let out a shout and thrust his sword at Qrrog. With renewed vigor, Bloodblade mounted a sudden offensive. Now that he had upped his game, he was pushing Qrrog back. The Viking was wearing down.

Qrrog's chest heaved as he swung his axe at the hume. Bloodblade parried and returned with a slice of his own, too fast for the seeq to register. Qrrog hissed and clutched his arm, staggering back. His opponent brandished his saber and then moved in for another hit.

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, seeing my husband hurt like that. I gritted my teeth and raised my staff. "Curaga!"

Pale light fell on Qrrog and he perked back up. Shooting a grateful glance my way, he rushed Bloodblade and used the haft of his axe to bash back the pirate king's weapon. The impact of the blow sent Bloodblade reeling off balance.

Our audience let out gasps and cheers for whoever they were rooting for. "Go get 'em, kupo!" Winn shouted. "Knock his kupo lights out!"

"You'd better not messss thiss up!" Vasily added.

The Sage frowned and waved her mace. "Refresh!"

Healing magick enveloped Bloodblade, who caught himself and pivoted away. Deflecting a swipe from my husband's axe, the pirate put more distance between them—and then swept his saber toward me.

A shockwave of air so thick I could see it rippled toward me. I had only a split second to respond, and it wasn't enough. Before I could even move, it slammed into me, sending me flying. I smacked hard against the stone, bounced, and rolled, coming to a stop when I hit the wall. My staff whipped out of my hand, and my glasses were dislodged from my face, tumbling away. The spells around Qrrog wavered and broke.

Pain shot through my body as I chided myself for my negligence. Of course Bloodblade would try to take me out to make defeating Qrrog easier. I tried to get up, but my arm throbbed in protest—was it broken? I rolled over and clutched it, trying to focus on the energies for another Curaga.

"_Terra!_" Qrrog turned and thundered toward me.

"Keep fighting," I gasped, watching his blue blurry bulk approach. "I'll be—"

The Sage brandished her mace. "Bio!"

A sickening green ooze manifested in the air around Qrrog and then clung to him, smothering him with toxins. He let out a choked gurgle as he faltered, stumbled, and crashed to the stone. Breathing heavily, he twitched for a few moments and then lay still.

"_No!_" Ignoring my pain – and our two opponents – I pushed myself to my feet and scrambled over to him. I dropped to my knees and held his head, which lolled limply in my arms. The thought of losing him tore at my mind. "Please wake up, please wake up," I begged, struggling to find the energy to cast another spell.

Bloodblade stalked over to us, his saber raised. "Nice to see the grin finally wiped off that idiot's face," he muttered. "I won't go down that easily."

The crowd was in hysterics. "Finish 'em!" someone shouted. Jihl looked like he was going to be sick as he struggled against the pirates holding him.

I didn't have much energy left. Trying to cast a more advanced spell at this point would tax my body and mind to their limits. What my gut was telling me to do was a risky gamble—but there was no way I was letting my husband go without a fight.

I held on tight to him and ducked my head, forcing every last ounce of power out of myself. "_Arise!_" The two of us burst into white flame as I felt my strength sapping.

Bloodblade bared his teeth and swung his sword at me. "Oh, no you don't—"

Qrrog sprang to his feet with a yell and swept his axe toward the hume. The flat of the blade connected with the pirate king's chest, and the force of the blow sent him flying off his feet. "No one," the Viking roared, "does that to _my wife!_"

Like a rag doll, Bloodblade crashed through the nearby window, and everyone held their breath for a few tense seconds until we heard a distant splash.

While everyone else was in shock, Qrrog knelt down beside me. "Brighteyes—"

"I'll be okay," I insisted even as I slumped over, clutching my wounded arm. Darkness edged my vision. I was going to need a long nap after this.

He put an arm around my back, fished an X-Potion out of his belt pouch, and held it to my lips. "Thanks, love. Don't know what I'd do without you."

As I sipped down the sickly-sweet tonic and the pain in my arm ebbed, I gave him a weak smile. "Hey, that's what I'm here for—"

"Look out!" Jihl shouted.

Qrrog and I whipped our heads around to see the Sage gathering her strength. The tip of her mace glowed with a malevolent white-orange light as she focused her mana into it.

A Gigaflare spell. There was no way both of us could survive such powerful magick, if a Bio alone had taken Qrrog down.

I swallowed my fatigue and grabbed my staff. "_Break!_"

The nu mou's eyes widened as my magick streamed toward her. She sped up her casting, but as she raised her mace, my spell hit her head-on. It writhed around her and slowed her movements, and her face froze in a look of horror as she was turned to stone. The magick on her weapon faded and died.

"Call me infantile, will she," I muttered as I collapsed into Qrrog's arms. Potions could restore my physical health, but I was still mentally exhausted.

Qrrog blinked up at our dumbfounded audience and a grin spread up his face. He handed me my glasses and carried me over to the throne, which he merely leaned against as it was too small for his seeq bulk. "So… I guess I'm the new Pirate King." He glanced down. "Gonna need a bigger throne."

His followers erupted in cheers and cries of "Long live King Squallhammer!" while Bloodblade's men and women scowled darkly.

"Release 'em!" Qrrog commanded, and the pirates holding our friends let them go. Jihl and Winn made their way over to us, while Vasily gave his seeq captor a parting jab in the stomach before following.

I grinned at my husband in relieved disbelief. "This was your plan this whole time, wasn't it."

He nodded. "Yep. Well, soon as I learned there was a pirate king, at any rate. Why hack at the branches when you can go straight fer the roots, I say."

"I think that's the first non-nautical metaphor you've ever used," I said.

"I'm multi-faceted," he insisted. "Although it is still an axe metaphor, so it's fittin'."

Jihl slapped his captain's shoulder. "Thank goodness you're all right, mate. You really had me worried a few times, there, you crazy ol' sea dog. That was some dumb stunt you pulled."

Qrrog laughed. "Don't worry about me none, matey. Me wife and I had everything under control." He looked over at me. "That makes you the Pirate _Queen_, by the way, love."

I blushed. "R-really?" This was definitely not where I saw my life going back in college. As I looked out over the crowd of what were now our subjects, my smile faded. "Qrrog… you said you wouldn't go back to piracy."

My husband's grin widened. "Aye, that I did—but I never said I'd stop bein' a pirate!" He turned to the others. "From now on, we're _reformed_ pirates!"

The sea brigands all looked at each other in confusion. Jihl shifted his weight and scratched the back of his head. "So uh, what does that entail, exactly, mate?"

"Oh, you'll still get to do all the _fun_ stuff," Qrrog said. "Fightin' and sailin' and adventurin'. But from now on, we're doin' it fer the right reasons. Those villages we've been raidin'—they could use protection, and we can ship their goods to more ports and increase their business. It'll be good for us both. And you won't have the Archadian Judges breathin' down yer backs any more."

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd, although some still looked unconvinced, mostly those who had stayed loyal to Bloodblade.

Qrrog narrowed his eyes. "But if that's not floatin' yer boat, exit's that way. And don't expect any mercy if we meet again on the seas and yer still causin' trouble. Any more questions?"

More murmuring. "No, sir!" someone finally said.

"Dismissed!" their new king barked. "Go finish yer breakfasts, why don't ye."

Slowly the pirates began to shuffle out. Even a number of Bloodblade's followers seemed appeased, although the Thief and a few others cast parting glances at the window he had fallen out of.

I sighed. "Well, this is… I definitely wasn't expecting this."

Qrrog looked back at me. "Ah, please don't be angry with me, love." He glanced around, as though trying to find some way to appease my supposed wrath, and then grinned pleadingly. "I got you a pirate fortress for yer birthday."

I smirked. "My birthday was two months ago. And you already took me out for dinner."

"Aye, well, you know I love to spoil ye!"

I hugged him. "You're a doofus."

"Yeah, but I'm _your_ doofus." He pressed his snout to my head.

Vasily tugged at his ears in frustration. "Yeah, yeah, bloomin' lovely. Congratss on yer new kingship an' ssavin' our hides an' yer functional relationship an' all. _I_ got a quesstion for you." He leaned over me and stuck his own crocodilian snout up to my husband's. "How. Are you gonna get. _Me bloomin' ship back?!_"

Qrrog laughed. "Easy! We'll just take a vessel back to Goug—"

Outside, thunder pealed and a crack of lightning split the mist. The daylight faded into an ominous dusk and the air grew heavy.


	9. Chapter 9

"What's goin' on out there…" Jihl muttered.

The five of us made our way to the broken window. Outside, storm clouds had impossibly gathered out of clear skies, hanging black and swollen over Worgen Island. Ships tugged at their moorings in the choppy gray water.

My ears buzzed. "Magick. This is magick—"

A gust of sea wind whipped through the window, bringing a shower of rain with it. Thunder roared and forks of lightning speared down from the clouds. The water in the bay heaved and lurched against its stone confines.

Qrrog scowled. "Pirate magick. Should've expected more of a fight from ol' Bloodblade."

Winn, fighting to keep her bearings in the fierce gale, grabbed a hold of Vasily's scarf and clung to his shoulder. "You mean he's still alive, kupo?"

"Evidently," Vasily muttered. "Sstay closse, pipssqueak." He put a hand around her.

Before our eyes, a twisting column of water rose up from the bay. The waterspout writhed as it twined into the clouds, illuminated by a web of crackling lighting.

Everyone stumbled away from the window. "He's gonna take this whole place down!" Jihl gasped.

I looked up at my husband, who didn't seem to have accounted for this possibility, and swallowed hard. My own magick was spent—there was nothing I could do. Even if I were to risk permanent injury by taxing my energy, there was no way I could defend against something so large and destructive.

I glanced over at the still-petrified nu mou. Even she would likely not be able to protect us, if indeed she was even willing to once we softened her.

The cyclone wavered for a moment—and then turned away from the fortress. It collapsed back into the sea, but somehow did not dissipate beneath the surface. Like a torpedo, in a bulge of bubbles it streamed across the bay.

Jihl ducked out the window, using his arm to shield his face from the pelting rain. "It's goin' out the inlet-cave, cap'n!" he shouted over the wind. "And—it's reformed on the other side! It's headin' out to sea!"

"What direction?" Qrrog asked.

The revgaji narrowed his eyes. "Northeast, looks like!"

My husband was silent for a moment. He closed his eyes and sighed. "He's goin' to Goug."

"Kupo?!" Winn squeaked, her long ears perking. "Why is he going to Goug, kupo?!"

Qrrog turned toward her. "O'course he'd keep you in the dark. Those magitek armor units you're buildin'—he was gonna use 'em to attack Goug."

Vasily and his moogle companion drew back in shock. Winn looked stunned. "But _why_, kupo?!"

"You know Goug's got no standin' military force," Qrrog said. "It's gotta rely on mercenaries for security. It'd crumble against a surprise assault from just one warmech o' that size, let alone three. Or a hurricane." He nodded out the window.

"Sso thiss Bloodblade guy jusst likess mayhem?" Vasily asked. "Don't sseem like quite his sstyle."

Jihl shook his head. "He's likely not after sheer destruction, mate. Conquest is the name of his game, and why settle for a single old castle when you could have an entire city under your dominion?" He stroked his beard. "Probably wouldn't stop there, either."

"W-we have to do something, kupo!" Winn stood on Vasily's shoulder. "My family's there—if anything happened to them—" Her tiny fists trembled as they clutched her vest.

I looked up at my husband. "There has to be some way to stop him… right?"

He nodded, but said nothing, chewing on the inside of his cheek in thought. Neither of us wanted to say it, but I knew that was a bad sign. He was usually much faster than that at coming up with ideas.

"None of our ships are nearly fast enough to out-sail a typhoon," Jihl muttered. "Especially a magickal one."

Winn drew in a sharp breath. "The magitek armor! The units are equipped with glossair rings, kupo, they can move as fast as airships!"

Qrrog grinned. "Perfect!"

The moogle drooped. "But… they haven't been tested, kupo."

"Can't think of a better tesst than thiss," her bangaa companion said. "You do great work, pipssqueak. I'd pilot a machine o' yers any day."

Winn glanced over at him and nodded. "We have to try, kupo!"

The new pirate king turned to his first mate. "Jihl, matey, hold down the fort for us. We got a madman to stop."

"Aye aye, sir!" The revgaji glanced back at the window. "First order of business," he muttered, "is to find a replacement for this before we all catch cold."

Qrrog moved for the door, but I put a hand on his chest. "Wait—" My head was still spinning and I could hardly see straight from fatigue. "I can't do anything right now. I'll just be dead weight."

He held me tighter. "I ain't leavin' you."

"Hold up, mates." Jihl approached us with a hand in his coat pocket. He pulled it out to reveal a green, glowing gem in his palm. "I was savin' this for an emergency, but… I think this counts as one."

I stared at the rare and valuable Ether as he handed it to me, and then gave him a smile. "Thanks… you've been a great friend to us both."

He ducked his head. "Well, I do what I can."

"Don't go getting' a big head," Qrrog said with a smirk.

I clutched the Ether to my chest and closed my eyes, reaching out and making a mental connection with the energies contained in it. Like a floodgate, the Ether unlocked and magick flowed through my body. I took a deep breath as my mana reserves filled back up, and I suddenly felt as though I'd gotten a full night's sleep.

The gem's light flickered and died, and as I pulled it away, it collapsed into soot that blew away in the wind. "Phew," I breathed as Qrrog put me down. "Much better."

Vasily and Winn were already waiting in the doorway. "We don't got all day!" our Cannoneer chided.

"Hey, watch yer tongue!" Qrrog said with a laugh as he and I flew down the stairs behind the two engineers. "Yer addressin' _royalty!_"

"Royalty or no, yer sstill a thorn in me sside, tubby!" came the reply.

As we passed bewildered pirates on our way to the workshop, we offered hurried explanations of what was going on. Thankfully, the storm seemed to be waning, which made sense if Bloodblade was moving it toward Goug. The fortress itself did not seem to have sustained any damage, and Qrrog sent a few people out to make sure all the ships were secured and nothing had flooded.

When we reached the workshop, Winn scrambled over to the control console. Her little fingers flew across the screen, and her robotic helpers on the ceiling rumbled to life, connecting fuel lines and diagnostic tools to the magitek armor units. The immense doors at the far end of the cavernous hall shuddered and began to slide open, letting in the damp sea air.

Vasily folded his arms. "Sso how're we gonna do thiss? Don't know if any of you noticed, but there're three mechss and four of uss."

I raised my hand like a student in class. "Qrrog and I can go together. You, I, and Winn are familiar with the mechs, but he isn't, so it would make sense to have one of us at the controls of each."

Winn looked over her shoulder at us. "Are you sure, kupo? I don't want to push the weight limits on these things…"

Qrrog frowned and flexed one of his thick arms. "Hey! Muscle weighs more than fat!"

Our resident bangaa reached over and patted my husband's considerable seeq paunch with a smirk. "Aye, but it ain't the musscle she's worried about, boyo."

"But you designed the units for piloting by any race," I pointed out to Winn. "We have to at least try."

"Yeah, I ain't lettin' you mateys have all the fun," Qrrog said. He ground a fist into his palm. "I gotta finish what I started."

The moogle's eyes didn't leave the screen as she waited for fuel levels to rise and pre-flight checks to be made. "But with the both of you—"

"Are you callin' me _wife_ heavy?" Qrrog picked me up around the waist and effortlessly hoisted me into the air. "Does _this_ look heavy to you?"

I squeaked in alarm, which turned into a laugh. "Okay, point proven! You can put me down now!"

My husband pulled me close with a grin. "Only if you give me a kiss."

I smirked. "Fair enough." Putting my arms around his neck, I kissed his cheek.

Winn stared at us with a mixture of confusion and disgust. "… Are they always like this, kupo?"

"Every. Bloomin'. Day," Vasily muttered.

The moogle shook her head and turned back to the console. "They do need their own kupo mech," she said under her breath.

"Score!" I said as Qrrog set me back down. I high-fived him. "Playing the embarrassingly awkward card always works!"

He laughed and put an arm around my shoulder. "I've taught you well, Brighteyes!"

Vasily gave us the stink-eye. "You people are incorrigible."

The display screen lit up with a bevy of new messages. Winn tapped them, and the fuel lines disengaged with a snap and a hiss. The mechanical arms withdrew. "All systems green, kupo." She took her goggles from around her neck and placed them on her forehead. "Let's do this."

She led us up onto the catwalks that surrounded each mech, and I showed Qrrog how to climb into the entry hatch in the massive torso of each two-legged machine. The enclosed cockpit was windowless, but the large screens that surrounded the pilot's seat gave a panoramic view of our surroundings in full color.

Qrrog let out an impressed whistle as he situated himself in the seat and I perched on his knee. "Well, ain't this fancy. O'course, wouldn't expect less from a moogle, crafty li'l things."

Even though Winn had made the seats adjustable for the sizes of the various Ivalician races, it was still a tight squeeze, but it wasn't like either of us minded. I guessed I should have just been grateful that we weren't _both_ seeq, otherwise something like this would be impossible.

Qrrog buckled the safety restraints around his chest. "These'll keep me safe," he said, holding me tight with one arm, "and I'll keep _you_ safe."

"Logistically, this is going to be very interesting," I said, rubbing my chin.

My husband bumped his snout against my head. "We'll make it work, love. We're a great team."

I grinned. "You're right!" Sitting back against him, I scanned the controls. "Okay, I think the best way to make this work would be to have you in charge of locomotion, and I'll take care of… all these doohickeys." I waved my hand at the dashboard, which contained controls and instrumentation for communications, navigation, and system diagnostics.

Qrrog nodded, and I flipped the switch to open the communications channel between the three units. "Terra and Qrrog, reporting in. Looks like all systems are good to go. We're ready whenever you are."

"Let'ss not wasste any more time," Vasily said. His mech turned and began striding toward the hangar doors, moving like the legs and torso of a robotic Tyrannosaurus.

Winn's machine followed him. "I have to warn you, kupo." The glossair rings on its back began to glow as they were pumped full of magicite, and light started to spin around their inner rims. "I haven't taken these guys on any flight tests."

"Looks like they're working great to me," I said. "Might as well give it a shot, huh?"

"Yeah, I ain't lettin' Bloodblade go so easy," Qrrog growled. "Okay, Brighteyes, how do I work this thing?"

I glanced down below the console. "See those pedals? The one on the right is the acceleration and the one on the left is the brake. Like on a car."

He glanced over at me. "Those internal combustion thingies from yer world?"

"Yeah," I replied, scratching my head sheepishly. I'd forgotten some of the ways in which our spheres of knowledge did not intersect. "Anyway, this yoke is for steering."

Qrrog grabbed onto the yoke with his free hand. Tentatively, he began to move the mech around. Its first few steps were awkward, and he needed a few moments of trial-and-error while he eased into the controls, but he managed not to break anything by bumping into it too hard or stepping on it. Winn was a smart kid, and she'd made the movement controls very intuitive.

"You guys coming, kupo?" Winn asked. Her and Vasily's mechs stood by the hangar doors.

"Yep!" Qrrog veered us around and our magitek armor trotted over to them.

I flicked on the Mist feed to the glossair rings. "Give the Mist a few seconds to circulate, and then we can take off. Sensors tell the on-board computer whether you're on the ground or in the air, so you'll be using the same instruments for both."

Winn's mech turned to face the gray skies outside. "We'll need to fly at full speed in order to beat Bloodblade to Goug, kupopo!"

"May the wind be at our backss," Vasily said.

Winn's robot took a few running steps and then leaped out the doors. Its glossair rings whirred as it seemed to defy gravity and float up and out of our sight. Vasily was quick to follow.

I turned to my husband. "I'm a little nervous."

He gave me a squeeze. "We got this far. We ain't goin' down now." He turned the magitek armor so it stared down the doors like we were on a runway. "Got any good battle cries on Earth?"

"How about 'banzai'? It literally means 'ten thousand years', and technically is used as an expression of enthusiasm and acclamation, especially in the presence of an emperor."

Qrrog eased the mech forward, slowly at first, and then faster. "Welp, now it's used fer pirate kings and queens, too. Banzai!"

"Banzai!" I chimed in as our machine reached the hangar doors and took a running leap.


	10. Chapter 10

My stomach dropped as we rose up like a roller coaster, away from the frothing sea and jagged rocks below us. "Oh _man_, this is so _cool_," I squealed, squeezing my husband's arm tightly. "I've always wanted to do this!"

He grinned. "Told you I wouldn't let you down."

The other two mechs were visible as vague shadows in the mist, but as I turned on the targeting overlay, they lit up as green silhouettes on the screen. "There's the navigation readout," I said, pointing to the rulings on the margins of the display.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Qrrog swerved us around so we were heading a little shy of northeast. "Fall in behind me! Goug's this way!"

"Roger!" Vasily replied.

"Kupo!" Winn said.

I watched on the radar as they took their positions in a delta formation in back of us. "This is like in the movies," I gasped, feeling like a kid on Christmas. "Except so much cooler."

"Yeah," Qrrog said with a proud grin, "'cause _I'm_ not in any movies."

I laughed. "Cinema could not contain your awesomeness, sweetie." My eyes wandered back to the view outside and my smile dropped. "Hey… Bloodblade said Worgen Island was a jagd, right? Doesn't magicite not work right in jagds? How are we flying right now?"

"It's not a _real_ jagd, kupo," Winn said over the communications channel. "Well—I mean, it _is_, but not—"

"Natural jagds are found sscattered around the continents up north," Vasily said. "They got sso much Misst in 'em, it messsses up sskysstones. No government wanted 'em, sso they became lawlessss places."

Qrrog nodded. "That's right. 'Cause of those natural jagds, any lawless place the judges can't reach came to be called a jagd. Which must be the case fer good ol' Worgen Island."

"Exactly, kupo."

"Oh." I rested my chin in my hand. "Huh. That makes sense, in a round-about sort of way."

Qrrog corrected our flight path minutely. "How long 'til Goug at this speed, d'you think?"

"About another half hour, kupo. I sure hope this kupo works…"

"It will," I said. "You built these mechs so you could stop Bloodblade, even though you didn't know it yet. Just keep telling yourself that."

Vasily snorted. "Aye, let'ss show him why you don't messss with engineers!"

Winn laughed. "You got it, Gramps!"

I gave them a chuckle, but my mind was on other things as we rose above the fog layer, into the boundless expanse of the blue sky overhead. It took me a few moments to work up the gumption to say something. "Qrrog… are you really going to be the Pirate King?"

He puffed out his chest proudly. "Yup!" Deflating a little, he looked over at me. "Er… unless you don't want me to."

"Well—couldn't Jihl do it?" I asked. "He seems like a pretty good guy, I'm sure he'd listen to you if you told him how to run the pirates."

My husband sighed. "That's the thing, love. I trust Jihl and all, he's one o' me best mates, but he wouldn't take the throne even if I gave it to him. He doesn't like bein' in the limelight, he'd rather see that orders are carried out and make sure things are runnin' smoothly for the ones in charge."

I paused for a moment, and then reached over and flicked off the communications channel. This needed to be a private conversation. "Do you want to be the Pirate King?"

"I do," Qrrog said, his eyes set on the vague horizon. "I feel I'm at me best when I'm commandin' a crew, and I've already won 'em over from Bloodblade. Years ago, you took a chance on me and turned me into a force fer good. I want to give that same chance to all me mateys. I feel like they need me to direct 'em." His dark eyes turned back to me. "But… more than that, I want to see you happy. If you aren't comfortable with this, I won't do it."

I watched him for a second. "… I'm still kind of in shock," I admitted. "All of this has happened so fast, and I had no idea it was coming… but I think that's a wonderful goal. I've supported you this far. I'm not going to abandon you now, Qrrog. I promise. I think you'd make the best Pirate King there ever was."

The Viking grinned bittersweetly. "Thanks, love. But somethin' else is troublin' you, I can tell."

"You weren't supposed to know that," I laughed.

"Husband's intuition." He let go of the yoke to pat my head. "Spill it, Brighteyes."

I wrung my hands, a nervous habit. "Will we still be in the clan? They're like family—they _are_ family to me. I've really enjoyed adventuring with them, and what if they still need us for missions…"

Qrrog grinned. "O' _course_ we'll still be in the clan! They're _my_ family too, after all! We'll just see a little less action, is all. Worgen Island will be our clan base, if Saskia okays it. That woman needs to learn to ease up, anyway."

"Oh, good." I gave him a smile as I curled up and rested my head on his shoulder. "I think that would work out fantastic. I am kind of tired of working nonstop. Vasily can moor the _Juggernaut_ at the fortress, right?"

"Yep!" Qrrog made another course correction and then reached up to run his claws through my hair. "I'll be honest with you, love, livin' on an airship is fun and all, but I missed the sea. Feels like home, it does."

"I like the sea, too," I murmured. "I like how it looks different every day."

He smiled. "Aye, it's beautiful. And now you won't even have to worry about seasickness!"

"I do like not-seasickness. And that fireplace."

With a chuckle, my husband hugged me tight. "Terra… do you want to do this?"

It took me a moment to figure out my answer. I'd grown comfortable doing clan work over the past several years. It was really all I'd known since coming to Ivalice. Now, here was an opportunity for a change, but one that seemed as though it would benefit everyone for the better. As I began to weigh the pros and cons, I realized that my heart already knew what it wanted.

"Yes," I said firmly. "I want to see you do what you love and rise to your potential. I want to support you in it. If this is our next great adventure, I want to be completely open to what it has to offer me." I squeezed his arm and grinned. "And I know it sounds super corny, but I've always wanted to live in a castle, and these past few days have not disappointed my expectations."

Qrrog laughed and nuzzled his snout against my head. "Sweetheart, you be as corny as you like. Yer the Pirate Queen now, after all."

"That's true." I smirked. "If I'm going to have a title out of a cheesy fantasy novel, I might as well act the part." I shook my fist. "Arr, mateys! Hang 'em from the mizzenmast!"

My husband patted my cheek. "You don't even know what a mizzenmast is," he teased.

"I do too, you told me once what all the parts of a ship are," I said with a wry smile as I snuggled up against him.

He laid his head on top of mine. "Okay then, which side is starboard and which side is port?"

"Um… starboard's the—uhh…" I laughed, amused and flustered at my own nautical ineptitude. "Augh, that's the one thing I can never remember!"

Qrrog joined in my laughter. "Yer too cute. I love you."

"I love you too, you big jerk." I put my arms around him. "Are we cuddling in a giant robot on our way to defeat a mad pirate king?"

"Mm-hm."

I closed my eyes. "We're strange people."

"That's what makes us so great, love."

After a moment, I smiled. "You didn't really forget about these mechs, did you."

"Nope." Qrrog chuckled. "Had to give the kiddo her fair share of good ideas."

"Yes, well, be careful that her ego doesn't get as big as yours."

"I doubt that'll ever happ—ah, there's our bilge rat."

I opened my eyes and sat up. Dark, bulbous clouds loomed before us, and every few seconds I could see the glow of lightning striking somewhere within them. Turbulence buffeted the magitek armor as Qrrog held the controls steady.

"We're not going to fly through that, are we?" I asked as I flicked the communications back on.

"_There_ you are!" Vasily's voice snapped, making my husband and I flinch. "Bloomin' idiotss, why'd you turn off yer comm?!"

"We've been trying to get a hold of you for five kupo minutes!" Winn shouted. "Don't scare us like that, kupo!"

Qrrog laughed. "Well, we're still flyin', ain't we?"

"We're not goin' through that sstorm," Vasily said. "It'd be ssuicide."

"Goug's on the other side." Qrrog glanced at the navigation readouts. "If we skirt the outside o' the storm, we can make it there before Bloodblade does."

I leaned forward. "… He's in that storm, controlling it, right? Will he know we're in there?"

"I don't want to take that risk, kupo," Winn said.

"We have to," Qrrog said, "if we want to beat him to Goug."

There was silence on the comm channel for a few moments. "Then let's show him what we're made of, kupo!"

Qrrog snorted. "Follow me and stay close—do, uh, whatever it is you do with these things to keep 'em from keelin' over!" He pushed down on the accelerator and we veered toward the torn clouds on the outskirts of the hurricane.

"They're fitted with gyroscopic stabilizers, kupo," Winn said. "What we should really be worried about is them exploding. A direct lighting strike could fry their systems."

"That's so comforting," I muttered.

"There are a million ways thiss could go wrong," Vasily hissed, "and I'm blamin' you fer all of 'em, _Captain_."

My husband grinned. "It's 'Yer Majesty' now, thanks."

The magitek armor unit rattled and bumped as we raced neck-and-neck with the storm. A few more minutes and the unnatural sea of swirling clouds towered above us. I took a deep breath as I scanned the dashboard, making sure all systems were still working nominally. "Okay. You're good to go."

Qrrog nodded and eased the mech toward the cloud bank. A thick fog swallowed us up, plunging us into darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

All around us I could hear the muffled rumbles of thunder as though we were in the belly of some titanic beast. Lightning crackled around us, blooms of white and purple and an unsettling red. Rain pelted the metal hull of our vehicle and spattered against the camera lenses that fed video to the viewscreens.

I clutched my husband's arm tighter. "I really don't want to die like this," I whispered.

He gripped the controls like he was trying to ride a bucking bronco, his eyes trained on the viewscreen ahead of him. "You won't, Brighteyes. I promise."

"How long are we going to be in here, kupo?!" Winn asked. Our three mechs struggled to stay in formation with each other as the winds tossed us about.

"Not long," Qrrog replied. "We ain't goin' too far in—just gotta shave off some time. Once we get to Goug, we'll do all we can to fight off Bloodblade, but we gotta give the citizens as much warnin' as we can allow."

"Look—" Vasily choked. "Ten o' clock!"

Qrrog leaned over to me. "That'd be the port side, love," he said with a grin.

I blushed. "Oh, shush."

We glanced over at the left viewscreen. Far in the distance, past tortured clumps of cloud, was a knot of crimson lightning. It spun in the eye of the storm like the nucleus of a very angry atom, spitting out forks of electricity.

"Phew," I breathed as it slowly moved out of our view. "Pirate magick's scary stuff."

"Any magick's scary stuff if you use it wrong," Qrrog murmured. "Could say the same for anythin', really."

I nodded. "True."

The next few minutes passed in tense silence. Qrrog and I had our eyes stuck on the clouds ahead, and I had the feeling Winn and Vasily were doing the same. Hopefully Bloodblade wouldn't notice three comparatively small robots on the edge of his massive storm.

Finally, the darkness began to lessen and I caught snatches of lighter gray past the darker gray. As the turbulence and the rain eased, I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Are we out?"

Qrrog dipped the mech beneath the clouds. "Yes and no. We're past the worst o' the storm proper, but it looks like Goug ain't exactly experiencin' a sunny day."

The mountain of tangled buildings ahead of us was lit for night, even though it was still morning. Rain washed out all remnants of color in the drab industrial city, and steam curled into sinuous shapes as the heightening winds scattered it.

"We have to warn them, kupo!" Winn suddenly bolted ahead of us.

"Head fer the Goug Watch headquarters!" Qrrog said as we and Vasily sped after her.

"Roger!"

The three of us flew at full throttle, determined to use every last second to our advantage. As we passed over the ships at port, I wondered how many people were looking up at us, wondering what we were and where we had come from. This would certainly be an interesting sight, but we weren't here to entertain.

Winn led us to an unassuming low-rise near the heart of the city and we touched down on the street. I grinned sheepishly at the few people still on the streets in this downpour. They scrambled out of our way, and I wished I could wave to let them know we were friendly.

"Sso," Vasily said, "Who's knockin'?"

"No time, kupo, no time," Winn muttered. "Goug Watch! This is Winnifrith Edilvert Mortlock!" Her words suddenly boomed through the streets, sending gasps of shock through the pedestrians. Doors and windows began to open as more people peered out to see what the commotion was.

"Gotta love that sound system," I said to Qrrog. "Maybe we could save Goug by singing to Bloodblade."

My husband's snout wrinkled in confusion. "What?"

I chuckled. "Dated Earth reference. Don't worry about it."

He patted my head.

The front door of the building opened and a Moogle Knight stepped out. "Kupopo! Winnifrith Mortlock?! You've been missing for months, kupo! Your parents are worried sick!"

"You're Zupp, right?" Winn asked. "Goug is in danger, kupo! There's no time to explain—have everyone prepare for a storm! We're going to try to hold him off, kupo, but the weather could get pretty rough!"

"Hold _who_ off, kupo?!" Zupp shouted up to the mech.

I flipped the switch for the outside speakers. "The pirate Bloodblade! He's gone crazy and he's coming in a hurricane!"

Zupp staggered back. "_Kupo?!_"

"Do as she says!" Qrrog barked. "He'll be here any minute, we're off to stop him! Contact Judge Magister Gabranth, tell him Clan Excelsior bagged him a nice one!"

The Moogle Knight turned toward us. "And just who are you, kupo?!"

"I'm the Pirate King, and don't you forget it!" Our mech's glossair rings whirred as Qrrog lifted us off the ground again. "Let's go, mateys!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Vasily's mech pushed off from the cobblestones.

Winn lingered for a moment. "And—tell my parents I'm happy, kupo!" Her own machine leaped into the sky.

Past the port was a solid wall of black cloud. Lightning rippled across its surface as it advanced across the sea like an encroaching army. "Hoo boy," I breathed. "And how, exactly, are three of us going to stop _that?_"

Winn flew in front of us. "With _lasers_, kupo!" She hovered there, looking as though she was challenging the storm to come any nearer.

I snapped my fingers. "Right—Bloodblade's at the core of this thing, controlling it, so if we can take him out, the entire storm should dissipate!"

"Or at leasst be lessss of a threat," Vasily said.

"That means…" I swallowed hard. "We're going to have to confront him head-on, aren't we."

Qrrog rubbed his chin. "Brighteyes, I'm wonderin'… think yer magic works on machines?"

"I don't see why it shouldn't—" I sat up. "_Ohhh!_" A grin spreading across my face, I placed my hands on the dashboard. "Full speed ahead, everybody! I've got this taken care of!" I took a deep breath. "Shellga!"

A bubble of iridescent magick surrounded Qrrog's and my mech. Taking a deep breath, I cast the spell on Winn's and Vasily's units as well. Then I clutched my husband's arm. "Okay. I'm gonna concentrate on sustaining this spell. Qrrog, you remember the weapons controls?"

He fingered the buttons on the steering yoke that I had taught him how to use on our way here. "Yep. Let's finish this."

"Then let's _go_, kupo!" Winn's mech took off in a stream of light, and we followed.

The wind and rain got worse as we once again approached the maelstrom, but this time we were headed straight for the heart of the storm. Our three mechs plunged into the darkness, where a hive of lightning awaited us. Distant arcs of scarlet electricity crackled and sputtered all around us like serpents in a roiling sea.

"Head for the eye!" Vasily said. "These mechss can take the turbulence!"

"But not the lightning, kupo!" Winn added.

I gritted my teeth. "That's where I come in." Sustaining the Shellga casting would be easy—as long as we weren't attacked.

"How long d'you think it'll be before Bloodblade notices uss?" Vasily asked.

Lightning ripped through the sky and flashed against Winn's mech. She let out a cry as her machine was buffeted by the blow, but the magick held and the electricity sparked harmlessly off of the Shellga. "Ergh… I think he noticed us, kupo!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Qrrog yelled. "Brighteyes' magick ain't infinite!"

The lightning writhed and danced in the storm, careening toward us in a staggered path. Qrrog let out a battle cry as he yanked the yoke and swerved our mech around. A thick thunderbolt flew past us and he veered us back on course.

"Dead ahead, Cap'n!" Vasily said. A fork of lightning glanced off of his mech, sending it listing. The bangaa snarled and gunned the engine, swooping beneath another incoming attack. "Ssee that energy readin'? That's gotta be him!"

I winced at the psychic backlash from another hit on Winn's mech. Thankfully I was still going strong, thanks to Jihl's Ether, but I wasn't going to be able to hold out indefinitely. We had to finish this fast. "There," I breathed, pointing to an energy signature on the overlay.

It corresponded to a knot of black clouds that we were on a straight course for. Red lightning flashed and sparked around it like malevolent Christmas lights, and we weren't there to sing carols. "It's a magickal barrier," I said.

"Weapons at the ready, kupo!" Another round of electricity lashed out at Winn's mech, and she sent it into a spin to avoid it. The barrel of the cannon on the machine's chest began to glow. "We'll blast our way through! Kupopo!"

"I got thisss!" Vasily curved in front of her. A peal of light pierced the darkness as a white-hot laser beam shot from his mech and cleaved into the clouds ahead.

Qrrog blinked. "By Leviathan's whiskers, she weren't kiddin' about the lasers, was she?"

The sky screamed as the barrier was torn asunder. Lightning-serpents lashed out in death throes as they faded mid-leap. When the light dimmed, I could see a ragged hole in the clouds where Vasily's shot had punctured.

"Hurry, kupo, let's go!" Winn zoomed toward it. "Before he can build it back up again!"

The glossair rings on Vasily's mech whirred. "Right behind y—" A spear of lightning flew up from beneath him and smashed into him dead-on.

The Shellga around his machine quivered and shattered, sending a piercing pain through my head. I let out a cry and jerked back against Qrrog's shoulder, scrambling to maintain the shields on ours and Winn's mechs.

"Brighteyes!" My husband's grip on me tightened.

"I'm okay," I gasped.

Vasily's magitek unit shuddered, and smoke began seeping out of it. "Keep goin'!" he roared. "I'll jusst sslow you down!"

"I'm not leaving you, Gramps!" Winn turned and began making her way over to where his mech hovered motionless. "You can still make it, kupo!"

"Aye, now's no time to play martyr!" Qrrog said. "Get yer tail in gear, you ol' duff! I ain't done arguin' with you yet!"

I leaned forward. "Let me recast—!" Taking a deep breath and feeling the mana well up in me, I sent out another Shellga to coat Vasily's mech. "You're good to go, now come on!" I cried hoarsely. I wasn't going to be able to do that again, so they would have to hold out until we stopped Bloodblade.

"The clouds are closing up again, kupo!" Winn was right—the barrier was re-forming, and the lightning-serpents were regrouping.

Vasily laughed as he punched the acceleration, rocketing toward the closing hole as the rest of us fell back into formation. "Can't even let an old man ssit out a fight, can you? Fine, then—fer the _Juggernaut_!"

As our mechs squeezed through the hole, it welled shut behind us, and the clouds twisted back into an electrified maelstrom. The roaring tempest suddenly seemed muffled.

"The eye o' the sstorm," Vasily breathed.

We were hovering inside a column of clear air, hemmed in on all sides by black clouds. Far above us was the sky—far below, the dark and angry sea.

And in front of us was a pirate king.

Ozra was barely recognizable now, cloaked in red lightning that surged around him like armor. "Get… get out," he panted. "_I_ am the Pirate King!"

Qrrog snorted. "Sorry, but I won that title from ye fair an' square. Now be a good sport about it and let's not terrorize any cities, eh?"

For a reply, the thunder-being once known as Ozra lashed out with a whip of electricity.

We scattered and began circling him. "Well, if _that's_ the way you wanna be about it," my husband said with a sigh.

"You're going down _hard_, kupo!" Winn began to charge her cannon again. "Attack!" She shot a blast of light at Ozra, who dove out of the way and flicked out another stream of lightning.

Vasily aimed a shot at him and it connected. The electricity surrounding the Bloodblade flared and he convulsed for a moment before soaring toward the bangaa's mech.

"Don't let 'im touch you!" Qrrog said. "That much power'll overload a shield in an instant!"

"Got it," Vasily panted, flipping out of the deposed king's path.

Qrrog nudged our mech downward. "That's our cue." He glanced up at the HUD to make sure the cannon was charged, and then fired.

The laser hit, and the entire storm seemed to wail in protest. Ozra spun and bounced off the storm cloud-wall. Electricity from it arced into him and his armor swelled.

"One more hit oughtta bring him down!" Vasily said, plummeting toward him.

Winn soared around to join him. "I got this one, kupo!"

Ozra let out an air-shaking bellow and thrust out his hands. Thick ropes of crimson lightning bolted out of his aura and raced to the two mechs.

Vasily shifted out of the way, but Winn began to fire her cannon. The lightning hit her head-on.

Her screech of shock echoed through our cockpit and sent my ears ringing—but not as much as the backlash from the Shellga breaking. I let out a gasp of pain and clung to my husband's arm white-knuckled. Spots danced in my vision and the only thing going through my head was _make it stop make it stop make it stop_. Qrrog clutched me as though he thought he could squeeze the pain out of me.

"Pipssqueak!" Vasily barked. "You okay?!"

"Sh-shields are critical, kupo!" Winn danced around another bolt of lightning.

Ozra's lightning-armor sparked and crackled, and he shot into the sky.

I groaned and slumped against my husband. He yanked back on the yoke and we rose up after our quarry, Winn and Vasily behind us.

Reaching out, Ozra pulled the clouds toward himself, enrobing himself in a shroud of darkness that glittered with electricity. Lightning-dragons burst out of the storm around us, surging toward us with gaping maws.

Winn let out a shriek of panic and my stomach plummeted. I knew what I had to do. "H-hold on!" I called out. Closing my eyes, I reached painfully within myself and scraped for the very last remnants of my depleted mana. I didn't know what kind of damage this was going to do to me, but I had to protect her and make sure we survived this.

My chin trembled as I prepared to cast the spell, my mind and body begging me not to.

A set of claws wrapped around my shaking hands. "Stop," Qrrog said softly.

"I have to do this," I whispered. "You guys need me."

"You can't throw yerself away like this." My husband's grip tightened. "We're a team. You've got our backs, but we've got yers, too."

"But…"

"Terra. I need you to trust me."

We had already bridged that gap. I sat back against him and opened my eyes, relinquishing my strain on my body. "Okay."

As soon as the word left my mouth, he fired straight into the air. He had been charging the cannon all along.

The river of light from our mech slammed into Ozra. The storm shuddered and groaned—and then died. A lightning-serpent, its jaws gaping and poised to swallow Winn, faded like a bad dream, as did its brethren.

The clouds wobbled like a doomed Jenga tower and fell down around us in a sudden shower. "Oh man," I breathed, my eyes half-closed as I listened to rain patter against the hull. "We did it. _You_ did it."

Qrrog patted my head. "Don't sell yerself short, Brighteyes. We all did it together."

"We didn't let him get too close to Goug, did we, kupo?" Winn asked as she reoriented her mech. We swerved around to see, past the twisted wreckage of storm clouds, the moogle city gleaming in the midday sun. "Sheesh, we were closer than I thought, kupo…"

"But it looks okay," I said with a smile. It was over, finally over. And I wanted a nap.


	12. Chapter 12

From above us, Ozra came drifting down. The unconscious pirate's clothes were tattered and small arcs of electricity still fizzled around him.

Vasily flew his mech over to the former pirate king. "Hold on, I got thiss." The bangaa opened the cockpit hatch and reached out to the hume tentatively with one gloved hand. Apparently the magick had faded enough to make him safe to the touch, and Vasily pulled him none-too-gently into the mech. "Heh, the Judges're gonna have a field day with thiss bloke."

Qrrog leaned over to me. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"No…" I sighed. "Thanks for stopping me. I'm just super tired."

"You deserve a rest," he said as he accelerated toward Goug.

"Yeah… I'm going to go ahead and not do any magic for a week."

"Can't say I blame you, love."

Vasily suddenly burst ahead of us. "Blimey! I've only got ssix hours ter pick up the _Juggernaut_! What're we waitin' around for?!"

I laughed. "Well, we're definitely going to have a story for Saskia and Coele."

"Aye, that we are," Qrrog chuckled. "So much for doin' any relaxin' on our 'vacation'."

As we flew back to Goug, the clouds dispersed and the seas calmed. By the time we touched back down in front of Goug Watch's headquarters, the only indication that there had even been a hurricane was how wet everything was.

Moogles crowded around our crafts curiously, and if I had had more energy I would have popped the hatch and waved to them. All I could do was watch as the door to the building opened.

Instead of the Mog Knight I was expecting, out stepped a tall, armor-clad figure with a sweeping black cape. Qrrog sat up, and despite my fatigue I did so as well. "Judge Magister Gabranth!" I said.

The helmeted head tilted ever-so-slightly. "Clan Excelsior, I presume?" Around his legs peeked an incredulous Zupp, seeming to still be in shock that the leader of the Archadian Judges was in his headquarters.

"In the flesh!" Vasily opened the hatch of his mech and poked his head out, hefting Ozra by the scruff of the man's collar. "Got a li'l somethin' for ye, Basch!"

I could practically hear the smirk in Basch's voice as he replied, "What did the panther drag in this time? I suppose it is good fortune I happened to be in the area." He turned and beckoned us to follow. "Let's discuss this inside, shall we?"

"Wait, kupo!" Winn hoisted herself out of her mech. "What about my magitek armor? I don't want anyone touching the mechs, kupo, they've just been through a rough battle!"

"We'll cordon them off, kupo," Zupp said. He looked over his shoulder. "Pane, Padi! Get some officers out here to guard the mechs, kupo!"

Once we had gotten inside, Basch put the necessary magickal binds and wards on Ozra, while a member of Goug Watch considerately made us hot cocoa. Then we all gathered around a table and warmed ourselves by the furnace while Qrrog, Vasily, Winn, and I explained the whole thing to Basch and Zupp, starting with taking the investigation job from Mogworks.

Basch took a sip of cocoa and leaned his arm on the table as we told him about our battle with Ozra in the eye of the storm. The Judge Magister had removed his helmet, but the rest of his armor would be too cumbersome to take off and put back on again. He'd mentioned to me once that it was uncomfortable to be in for long periods of time, and impossible to relax in. But it came with the job, and he would gladly bear the discomfort in order to better serve those who needed him.

As we finished, he lowered his mug and turned to Qrrog. "You are serious about taking the position of the Pirate King?"

My husband nodded. "Yep. But none o' this lawbreakin' nonsense. We're gonna be protectors of the seas. And I want an alliance with yer empire."

Basch scanned our faces, thought for a moment, and then leaned back and smiled. "Well, then. I cannot think of anyone better for the job. The Archadian Empire would be happy to secure your allegiance, I'm sure. I'll talk with Emperor Larsa about it when I return." He ran a gauntleted hand through his hair. "I must admit, I shall miss your usual escapades."

"We're still going to do clan work," I piped up. "Maybe not as frequently, but we're still a clan." I grinned. "So you definitely haven't seen the last of our hijinks."

The Judge Magister laughed. "Good! Larsa enjoys reading your letters as much as I do."

Winn stood up and put her hands on the table. "I want to join your clan, kupo." Before any of us could reply, she continued, "I know it's not up to any of you, kupo, but take me with you to pick up your leader so I can make my request."

"You ssure, pipssqueak?" Vasily asked.

The moogle nodded. "I—"

The door burst open. "Winnifrith!" Two affluently-dressed moogles hurried toward Winn.

Basch stood up and tensed, ready to defend her, but Vasily held out a hand for him to stand down.

We saw why a moment later, when the moogle couple enveloped the young engineer in a smothering hug. "Winnifrith, my baby!" the female sobbed, her pompom quaking with emotion. "There you are, kupopo! We were worried sick about you!"

"Don't you ever run off like that again, kupo!" the male said, clutching his daughter like she was going to disappear if he let go.

Winn's mother poked her head up from the impromptu huddle. "Oh, Sir Zupp, Judge Magister Gabranth, thank you so much for finding our little girl, kupo!"

Zupp scratched the back of his head. "Well, it wasn't exactly us, kupo…"

The two moogles pulled away and Winn's father put an arm around her shoulders with a frown. "You missed out on half your semester, kupo! Do you know what that will do to your GPA?"

Winn stiffened and brushed him off. "I don't care. I'm not going back to that kupo university—I'm joining a clan!"

Her parents' eyes widened and their whiskers bristled. "Winnifrith!" Her mother took a step forward. "Think of your future, kupo!"

"I _am_, kupopo!" Winn clenched her fists. "I just want to be happy! And I don't know if you noticed, but my machines just saved the whole kupo city!"

For a moment, an awkward silence lingered. Her mother looked back over to Zupp and Basch. "Is… this true, kupo?"

Vasily nodded. "Those mechss outside? She built 'em, with my help. If it weren't fer yer daughter, Goug woulda been in a whole heap o' trouble."

Her parents looked at each other, and then back to us at the table. "But—surely you understand, kupo," her father said. "She can't just go off doing whatever she wants, kupo, it's irresponsible."

With a bit of a huff, Vasily propped his elbows on the table and stretched out his legs, crossing his ankles. He narrowed his eyes at Winn's father a bit cynically. "I do what _I_ want. You callin' me irressponssible?"

The moogle grimaced up at the much larger bangaa. "Well, er—"

Qrrog grinned. "The rest of us ain't exactly normal, matey. Don't hold yer daughter back just 'cause she don't fit into yer tidy li'l plans fer the way life ougghta be. Life don't work like that. Let her sail free and she'll surprise you with what she can do. Like today, when she saved yer city when no one else could have."

Winn nodded. "I just need you to trust me, kupo. I want to be my own moogle."

"Don't worry," I said. "We'll take good care of her. Our clan is a family. And we could really use someone of her caliber."

Her mother sighed, her ears drooping. "Winnifrith… kupo… are you sure you really want to do this?"

"Positive, kupo." Winn wrung her hands and glanced over at Vasily, who gave her a thumbs-up. She turned back to her parents and grinned. "I… don't worry, I'm going to make you proud of me, kupo! But I'm going to do it my own way! After all, kupo, not many people can brag that their child saved a city!"

Her parents looked at each other with weak smiles. "She does have a point, kupo," her father said.

His wife nodded and turned to their daughter. "If this is what you really want, Winnifrith…" She pulled her child into a tight hug again. "We're just so glad to see you safe again… take care out there, all right?"

Qrrog licked the hot cocoa mustache from his snout. "Don't you worry none, ma'am! We've got the finest White Mage in all of Ivalice!" He reached over and hugged my head, setting my glasses askew.

With a toothy smile, Vasily mussed the tuft of hair between Winn's ears. "I look forward ter workin' with ye, kiddo. Who knows what elsse we could build with—" He glanced at the clock and his eyes widened. "Blimey!" The bangaa jumped to his feet, drained his mug with one swig, and threw his scarf over his shoulder. "We only gotss four hours ter claim the _Juggernaut_! C'mon, pipssqueak! Nono ain't gonna wait forever!"

He ran out the door with Winn at his heels, shouting "Let's take the mechs, kupo, they'll be faster than a cab!"

Winn's parents stared out the open door in disbelief for a few moments.

Basch took another sip of his cocoa. "Would you close the door, please? You're letting in a draft."

"O-of course, Judge Magister, kupo…" Winn's father walked over and pushed the door closed.

Zupp snickered and handed him a freshly poured mug of hot chocolate. "They grow up so fast, don't they, kupo?"

Qrrog laughed. "Aye, one minute they're in diapers, the next they're buildin' giant robots!"

I patted his shoulder. "How would you know that? We don't have any kids."

"I just thought it sounded good."

"It did," I laughed.

My husband took another gulp of cocoa and leaned back against the wall. "So, I'm the Pirate King… shiver me timbers, funny how that sneaks up on a mate."

Basch grinned. "I would not exactly call that a title that can sneak up on you."

I looked over at him. "Seems like that's what happened when you became Judge Magister."

"Something like that," he muttered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm gonna need to make me some new duds," Qrrog continued, inspecting his vest. "I'm thinkin' one o' those long coats like Jihl has—what do you think, Brighteyes?"

"Yeah!" I clapped my hands together. "Oh, and one of those hats with the big feather plumes on them! Every proper pirate needs one of those," I said, entirely tongue-in-cheek.

Qrrog totally went with it. "Aye, and a ruffly silk cravat!" He daintily fingered the air in front of his neck. "Gotta look good while swashbucklin', after all!"

Seeing Basch trying to suppress laughter just egged us on. "And don't forget a hook for a hand!" I held up a curled finger. "You can't be a pirate without an unwieldy prosthetic!"

My husband patted my head. "Now, now, Brighteyes, let's not be _silly_." He paused for a moment and then, with a grin that stretched from ear to ear, held up both of his hands with curled claws. "_Two_ hooks!"

Basch buried his face in his hand, his shoulders shaking as he made strange snorting sounds.

Qrrog and I high-fived each other.

Mission complete.


End file.
